Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption James Grant, who is a doctor, describes the attack

A doctor in New Zealand has told the BBC how he fought off a shark attack with a knife, stitched up his wounds, then went to the pub for a beer.

James Grant, 24, was spear fishing near Colac Bay in New Zealand's southern coast on Saturday when - as he tells it - "something latched onto my leg".

He was able to fend off what he believes to be a sevengill shark by stabbing it with a knife.

He then swam to shore and stitched up his leg using a first aid kit.

"I had just gotten into the water, killed a fish and something latched onto my leg," Dr Grant told the BBC.

"I thought it might have been one of my diving buddies, turned around... big shark had latched on. What I did was I just put a couple of little stitches in to take it back together," he said.

Warren Bevin at the Colac Bay Tavern told Reuters news agency he gave Dr Grant a pint of beer.

Mr Bevin added that Dr Grant's "mates were kicking around laughing and he brought out the big first aid kit and got a little bandage out".

Dr Grant said the rest of the stitches were done by a friend who worked as a surgeon at a hospital.

He added that the shark bit into his wetsuit but did not do much damage to his skin. And while there were some punctures at the back of his leg, he did not have a scar, he said.