When animals attack … surviving a shark bite to the head edition
From the Independent …
An Australian diver fought himself free from the jaws of a 10ft great white shark that swallowed his head and shoulders and then bit him around the torso.
Eric Nerhus, an abalone diver, told rescuers that he pushed his abalone chisel into the shark’s head and poked it in the eye. He then fought it off when it returned for a second attack, clamping its jaws around his body.
With the first bite, the shark crushed Mr Nerhus’s reinforced face mask, leaving him with a broken nose. The brunt of the second bite was taken by his lead weight vest, but his wetsuit was shredded. He suffered shock and blood loss and was left with lacerations to his body, left arm and head.
His 25-year-old son managed to pull him into their boat.
“He was actually bitten by the head down, the shark swallowed his head,”
“Eric is a tough boy,” he said. “He’s super fit. But I would say that would test anyone’s resolve, being a fish lunch.”
A shark expert said that the shark probably mistook Mr Nerhus for a seal.
He said that the shark would have quickly realised that Mr Nehrus didn’t taste anything like a seal, but “sort of a bit bony so it possibly spat [him] back out”