SYDNEY - AN AUSTRALIAN surfer punched a 5m shark in the head as he rescued his 13-year-old cousin who had been bitten on the leg and dragged beneath the water, local media reported on Monday.

The pair were surfing off the southern island state of Tasmania on Sunday when the white-pointer grabbed the girl's leg and dragged her down twice. Her cousin, Syb Mundy, 20, paddled over, punched the shark, put the girl onto his surfboard with him and paddled into shore, the reports said.

'He's done a magnificent job,' Senior Sergeant Jason Elmer of St Helens Police told Australian Associated Press. 'He's extremely brave in his actions. He's probably saved her life.'

The girl, Hannah Mighall, was in a stable condition in hospital, the Daily Telegraph said in a report headlined 'Heoric cousin pulls girl from the mouth of a monster.'

In another near-tragedy on Sunday, a surfer on Australia's north-east coast survived a shark bite and paddled himself to shore with a 40cm gash in his left thigh.

Jono Beard, 31, was surfing with a few friends, watching some dolphins swim by, when he was bitten, the Daily Telegraph said.

He paddled for 80m into the shore, all the while shadowed by the shark, witnesses told the newspaper.

Mr Beard was flown by helicopter to hospital where he underwent surgery.

'We were all just out there and there were six or seven dolphins around us. It was a bit of a tranquil morning,' the newspaper quoted surfing friend Paul Holden as saying.

'Then out of the blue there was an attack from below and the shark grabbed Jono and started thrashing him around. The water was churning.' -- REUTERS