OT - A bit too much to swallow, fortunately !?

[ricki]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/loc...home-headlines


I was almost swallowed alive by a shark, diver says
'Half my body was in its mouth,' Australian tells TV

Associated Press

January 24, 2007, 12:31 PM EST


SYDNEY, Australia -- A diver who was almost swallowed alive by a 10-foot-long shark said Wednesday a lead-lined vest prevented the animal from biting him in half and a chisel used for gathering shellfish allowed him to fend off the fish.

Eric Nerhus, 41, described Tuesday's terrifying attack by a shark, believed to be a great white, off the fishing town of Eden, about 250 miles south of Sydney.

Nerhus was working with his son and other divers collecting shellfish when the shark suddenly attacked him about 25 feet below the surface, grabbing him by the head and shoulders.

"Half my body was in its mouth," Nerhus told Australian television's Nine Network.

Nerhus said he fought desperately.

"I felt down to the eye socket with my two fingers and poked them into the socket," he said. "The shark reacted by opening its mouth and I just tried to wriggle out. It was still trying to bite me. It crushed my goggles into my nose and they fell into its mouth."

He said he managed to finally escape the shark's jaws after jabbing at its eye with a chisel he used to chip abalone from rocks and was still holding despite the attack.

Nerhus, who estimated he spent two minutes inside the shark's mouth, said his chest was protected from the shark's rows of teeth by a lead-lined vest used to weight him down in the water.

As he swam to the surface in a cloud of his own blood, Nerhus said he could still see the shark and feared it would attack again.

"It was just circling around my flippers, round and round in tight circles," he said. "The big round black eye, five inches wide, was staring straight into my face with just not one hint of fear, of any boat, or any human, or any other animal in the sea."

He was helped into his boat by his son and rushed to a hospital where he was being treated for severe cuts to his head, torso and left arm.

An expert said the shark that attacked Nerhus probably mistook him for a seal, which are common in waters off southeastern Australia and attract sharks.

Scientists say there are an average of 15 shark attacks a year in Australian waters -- one of the highest rates in the world -- and on average just over 1 per year are fatal.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[ricki]

Diver fights clear of shark's jaws
By Amy Coopes and Vincent Morelli
January 23, 2007 07:14pm
Article from: AAP
Font size: + -
Send this article: Print Email
AN abalone diver has survived a terrifying attack by a white pointer shark, which swallowed his head and shoulders before he fought free of the predator.

Eric Nerhus, 41, was diving off the New South Wales south coast today when the 3m shark seized him head on, crunching on his head, shoulders and chest, he told friends later.

Protected from the worst of the shark's bite by a lead-lined weight vest, the diver stabbed and clubbed at the creature's head and eyes with an abalone chisel until it spat him free.

The shark's bite crushed Mr Nerhus's reinforced face mask, broke his nose, and shredded his wetsuit.

With blood pouring from deep wounds to his head, chest and back, Mr Nerhus surfaced off Cape Howe, near Eden, to be pulled aboard a boat by his son Mark, 25.

Suffering blood loss and shock, he was flown to Wollongong Hospital, where he was stable and conscious tonight, telling friends of his miraculous escape.

"He was actually bitten by the head down, the shark swallowed his head," said fellow diver and friend Dennis Luobikis.

"I think Eric's the first professional abalone diver that's actually survived a white pointer attack," added Mr Luobikis, 52.

"Eric is a tough boy, he's super fit.

"But I would say that would test anyone's resolve, being a fish lunch.

"He'd have a better chance of winning the lotto (than surviving that attack), and I think he would have rather done that."

The attack occurred around 10.30am (AEDT) today as Mr Nerhus was searching for abalone in weedy, murky waters nine metres deep.

"He come up to the surface, he was going: `Help. Help there's a shark, there's a shark'," son Mark Nerhus told TV networks.

"I went over and there was a big pool of red blood and I pulled him out of the water and he was going: `Just get me to shore, get me to shore'."

Divers in a nearby boat gave first aid and one radioed his father, who was flying overhead in a spotter plane, to call for emergency help.

The Snowy Hydro Rescue Helicopter arrived shortly after 11.10am and airlifted Mr Nerhus to Wollongong Hospital, where he may undergo surgery as early as tomorrow for his injuries, a spokeswoman said.

But tonight, Mr Nerhus was sitting up and talking about his experience and was in a stable condition, the spokeswoman said.

Doctors said the shark had "taken the diver completely into its mouth".

But Mr Luobikis said Mr Nerhus' weight vest had probably saved his life.

All divers need lead to submerge but abalone divers use a lead vest rather than a weight belt.

"We've always felt (the vest) would probably help us in a shark attack and this is the first time we've had it confirmed," Mr Luobikis said.

There had been a rash of white pointer sightings in recent weeks thanks to unusually cold waters off Eden, but such an attack was unheard of, Mr Luobikis said.

"I have been a professional diver in Eden for 36 years and I'm not aware of any white pointer attacks in that time," he said.

Mr Luobikis said sharks pass abalone divers quite often but the divers never know, since they are head down, working.

"It's one of the hazards of the job – you accept it.

"They could swim over the top of you and you wouldn't even see them."

Last month, a 15-year-old boy lost part of his leg to a shark which attacked him while he was surfing near Esperance, in Western Australia, and another man had his leg bitten while surfing at Bells Beach in Victoria.

Last January, a scuba diver survived a great white attack off the coast of Perth by fighting off the shark with his speargun and then his hands.

But a 21-year-old woman died that same month when attacked by three sharks while swimming off North Stradbroke Island, in Queensland's southeast.

Between 1995 and 2005, Australia reported 74 shark attacks, second only to the US state of Florida, according to the US-based International Shark Attack File.

Great whites are the world's largest known predatory fish, with an average length of between 4 and 5m.

But they can grow up 6m in colder waters.

Sharks, including great whites, are protected in Australia.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21104597-2,00.html