Great white shark appears in water next to bodyboarder

Oct. 3 (UPI) -- An Australian bodyboarder's dangerously close encounter with a great white shark was caught on camera by a friend filming from shore.

A video filmed Sept. 24 at a beach near Prevelley, Western Australia, shows Matt Marshall catching a wave in the surf when a great white shark appears in the water next to him.

"Just saw a splash, thought it was a dolphin at first then yeah went back through the footage and realized it was a shark," Marshall told 7 News. "You just see the fin pull off the wave, about a meter in front of me ... so lucky it didn't come towards me a bit quicker."

Evans said he feared for his friend's life when the shark, which he estimated to be about 13 feet long, appeared in the water.

"It was almost like it was going for him," Evans said. "He's lucky he went for the wave essentially because he could have been missing a leg for all we knew."

The video was filmed the same day a great white shark knocked a surfer off her board at a beach in nearby Gracetown. The woman was not injured, but the surfboard sustained three marks from the shark's teeth.