A 16-foot shark, believed to be a great white, knocked two men from the long surfboard they were paddling before crushing it at a south Australian beach Tuesday. Both men escaped serious injury.

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Brian Sierakowski, 51, said he and a friend were paddling about 200 yards off Cottesloe Beach in Perth when the shark attacked, chomping just a foot from where he was sitting.Sierakowskia, a former professional Australian rules football player, suffered minor facial injuries from the tail-strike. His companion, Dr. Barney Hanranhan, a plastic surgeon, was uninjured.

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