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Australian diver tells of being swallowed by shark

24 Jan 2007 09:10:28 GMT
Source: Reuters

SYDNEY, Jan 24 (Reuters) - An Australian diver on Wednesday told of how he wriggled free from the jaws of a Great White Shark that had half-swallowed him head first, saying he could feel the shark's teeth sink into his weight vest.

"I've never felt fear like it til I was inside those jaws, with those teeth getting dragged across my body," abalone diver Eric Nerhus told the Nine television network from his hospital bed a day after the attack off Australia's south-east coast.

Nerhus, 41, was partly swallowed by the 3-metre (9 foot) shark when it attacked at about 8 metres below the surface, but said he managed managed to fight his way free by jabbing the shark's eye with his free left hand.

"I went straight into its mouth, front onwards. My shoulders, my head and one arm went straight down into its throat. I could feel the teeth crunching up and down on my weight vest," he said.

Nerhus said he was collecting abalone when the shark struck, knocking the regulator, which supplies oxygen, from his mouth and leaving him inside the shark's open jaws and throat.

"I put my left arm down the side of its face because my head and shoulders and right arm were right down in its throat. Half my body was in its mouth," Nerhus said.

"I felt down to the eye socket with my stiff fingers. I poked my fingers into the eye socket, which the shark reacted to in a way that it opened its mouth a bit, and I just tried to wriggle out."

As he pulled his head from the shark's mouth, it crushed his goggles against his face, leaving Nerhus with a broken nose.

He estimated he was in the shark's grip for up to two minutes. Once free, he grabbed his regulator for air and began to surface slowly, worried the shark circling him would attack again.

"It was just circling around my flippers, around and around in tight circles," he said. "As I was coming up out of the water, it was coming up under my legs."

Nerhus was pulled from the water by his son and other divers in their fishing boat before being flown to hospital, where he was treated for lacerations around his body and his broken nose.

The diver said he was lucky to survive, but he was determined not to die in the jaws of a shark.

"I couldn't think of a worse way to go than to end up as fish food. That's why I fought back. I was determined I didn't want to go like that. I like life too much," he said.

"I'm so fortunate that my survival instincts and reflexes took over." ((Reporting by James Grubel, editing by Bill Tarrant; james.grubel@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: james.grubel.reuters.com@reuters.net, +612 6273 2730))

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Last updated:Wed Jan 24 09:11:29 2007