01/24/2006 Eric Nerhus (Australia)
Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:05 am
Australian fights free after shark 'swallows his head'
2007/1/24
SYDNEY, AFP
An Australian diver described from his hospital bed Tuesday how he fought free from the jaws of a great white shark which had "swallowed" his head.
The huge predator's bite crushed 41-year-old Eric Nerhus's face-mask, broke his nose and shredded his wetsuit, leaving blood pouring from deep gashes in his head, chest and back.
"He was actually bitten by the head down, the shark swallowed his head," friend and fellow diver Dennis Luobikis told reporters.
Nerhus, who was protected from the worst of the shark's bite by a lead-lined weight vest, told friends later he stabbed and clubbed at the shark's head and eyes with an abalone chisel until it spat him free.
As he surfaced off Cape Howe, near Eden on the southeast coast, Nerhus was hauled aboard a boat by his son Mark.
"He come up to the surface, he was going, 'Help, help there's a shark, there's a shark'," Mark told television 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.
A rescue helicopter airlifted Nerhus to Wollongong Hospital, where he was treated for shock and loss of blood and may face surgery, a spokeswoman said.
Doctors said the three-meter (10-foot) shark had "taken the diver completely into its mouth", the national AAP news agency reported.
"Eric is a tough boy, he's super-fit," said Luobikis, 53. "But I would say that would test anyone's resolve, being a fish lunch.
"He'd have a better chance of winning the lottery (than surviving that attack), and I think he would have rather done that."
Luobikis said Nerhus' weight vest had probably saved his life.
"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," Luobikis said.
He said several great white sharks, also known as white pointers, had been spotted in the area recently due to unusually cold waters, but the attacks were extremely rare.
"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. The attack occurred in murky waters nine meters deep.
Ten people have been killed by sharks in Australia since 2000. The most recent death was in January, when 21 year-old Sarah Wiley died at a popular tourist beach on the east coast's North Stradbroke Island.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archiv ... 100784.htm
2007/1/24
SYDNEY, AFP
An Australian diver described from his hospital bed Tuesday how he fought free from the jaws of a great white shark which had "swallowed" his head.
The huge predator's bite crushed 41-year-old Eric Nerhus's face-mask, broke his nose and shredded his wetsuit, leaving blood pouring from deep gashes in his head, chest and back.
"He was actually bitten by the head down, the shark swallowed his head," friend and fellow diver Dennis Luobikis told reporters.
Nerhus, who was protected from the worst of the shark's bite by a lead-lined weight vest, told friends later he stabbed and clubbed at the shark's head and eyes with an abalone chisel until it spat him free.
As he surfaced off Cape Howe, near Eden on the southeast coast, Nerhus was hauled aboard a boat by his son Mark.
"He come up to the surface, he was going, 'Help, help there's a shark, there's a shark'," Mark told television 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.
A rescue helicopter airlifted Nerhus to Wollongong Hospital, where he was treated for shock and loss of blood and may face surgery, a spokeswoman said.
Doctors said the three-meter (10-foot) shark had "taken the diver completely into its mouth", the national AAP news agency reported.
"Eric is a tough boy, he's super-fit," said Luobikis, 53. "But I would say that would test anyone's resolve, being a fish lunch.
"He'd have a better chance of winning the lottery (than surviving that attack), and I think he would have rather done that."
Luobikis said Nerhus' weight vest had probably saved his life.
"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," Luobikis said.
He said several great white sharks, also known as white pointers, had been spotted in the area recently due to unusually cold waters, but the attacks were extremely rare.
"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. The attack occurred in murky waters nine meters deep.
Ten people have been killed by sharks in Australia since 2000. The most recent death was in January, when 21 year-old Sarah Wiley died at a popular tourist beach on the east coast's North Stradbroke Island.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archiv ... 100784.htm