An eight-year-old boy survived a shark attack after punching the predator in its FACE.

Napat Chaiyarak Christenko (corr) was swimming in the sea with his Ukrainian father when the creature pounced on the island of Phuket, southern Thailand, on May 1.

The youngster screamed in pain before trying to kick away the ferocious marine creature. He then reached down and thumped it in the head, Napat told police in the Kamala district.

Napat's terrified parents dragged the boy up from the water as blood gushed from the fresh wounds on his right calf. The shark, believed to be either a bull shark or a blacktip reef shark up to 4ft long, disappeared into the depths.

Paramedics rushed to the scene and performed first-aid before taking Napat to the Bangkok Hospital in Phuket for treatment.

The boy - who remained calm while travelling in the ambulance - told doctors that it was the most painful thing he had ever felt.

He said: 'I felt a pain in my leg and looked down and saw the shark biting me. It was the most painful thing ever. I punched it to make it leave me alone.'

Doctors examined the wound and initially suspected that the boy was bitten by a barracuda fish that was about 80-120 centimetres long, based on the bite marks.

However, marine and shark specialists checked the wound and later determined that the boy had been bitten either by a blacktip reef shark or a bull shark, which are often found in the Andaman Sea.

They believe the cloudy water had obscured the shark's vision causing it to mistake the boy's leg for a fish or another kind of underwater animal that it would normally hunt.

Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong, the Director of Phuket Marine Biological Center, said the attack was 'very violent' as it is currently breeding season.

He said: ‘Sharks are found in surf zones and will normally hunt fish. It might have mistaken the boy’s calf as a fish and bit it.

'The boy is very brave. He told us that he punched the shark while it was attacking him.'

The environmentalist said that the wounds were 'definitely cause by a shark'.

He added: 'The wounds were caused by a shark as both upper and lower teeth were used in combination. It was a sharp wound on both sides, with both upper and lower teeth snapping at the same time.

'The shark came in for food and thought the boy was food, therefore biting his leg. But when it took a bite and realised it was not food it did not attack again.'

Kamala district officials have already rushed to reassure worried tourists by installing a warning sign near the scene and arranged for surveillance officers until there are no sharks in the area.

They said shark attacks in Thailand are 'extremely rare'.

Blacktip reef sharks are known to bite people that are swimming or paddling but do not pose a serious threat to humans, while bull sharks do not normally attack humans for food but will do when provoked or out of curiosity.