Surfer breaks leg after being confronted by seal as he paddled into waves

A surfer has described the moment he broke his leg in the water after being confronted by a seal.

Nathan Phillips, 42, told how he screamed in agony after his leg snapped in two in Porthleven, Cornwall, on Friday.

Nathan, hailed a ‘local surfing legend’, said the seal started tugging on the leash of his surf board as he paddled out into the waves.

Seconds later, some ‘epic’ waves crashed down on him ‘at a weird angle’ – sending the board flying into his leg.

Nathan, a self-employed builder, said: ‘I remembered my mate saying he thought my board had snapped because of the sound – but then I realised it had been my shin, when I felt my foot hitting the back of my leg.

‘I started screaming with pain, and my mate dragged me onto his board and told me to start paddling back to shore.’

However, after a half-mile journey to the shore the 6ft 2in surfer faced another ordeal after being unable to fit into a smaller than usual replacement Cornwall Air Ambulance sent to collect him.

He was forced to wait in his friend’s van before an ambulance arrived via the road.

Nathan, who is originally from Wales but now lives in Cornwall, is awaiting surgery at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon.

He suffered an open (compound) fracture, when the bone breaks through the skin, with his leg currently pinned by a metal frame.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Nathan added: ‘I had just been paddling out and something started tugging on my leash. It kind of freaked me out because I didn’t know what it was.

‘After I worked out that it was a seal and fended it off, it was just playing I think, but a wave then crashed down on me just after at a weird angle and sent my board flying into my shin.’

Now kind-hearted friends are trying to raise money to help the surfer, who is expecting a baby with his partner in the next few weeks.

They have set up a JustGiving page to help Nathan ‘raise a few quid’ ahead of some ‘tough times ahead’.

The fundraising page says: ‘If all of us that know him chucked him the price of a pint it would make a world of difference to him, his partner and their expected first child.’

Nathan’s friend, Alec, said: ‘He’s such a top bloke, we just wanted to do whatever we could to help him out.’

He added: ‘We do get a lot of seals down here in Cornwall and they do try and play with you or mess about with you a bit sometimes.

‘They’re inquisitive.’

A British tourist last week revealed how she thought she might die after a dolphin almost bit her foot off during a wild swim in Bolivia.

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