It happened to Geppetto with a whale;
to
Eric Nerhus
, with a shark.
The big difference is that one is a fictional character and the other is
real.
The 57-year-old Australian diver counted
recently in an interview what he experienced when a huge white shark tried to eat him alive.
In dialogue with The Sun, Nerhus recounted that in January 2007 he was diving near the reefs of Cape Howard, in New South Wales, when he was sighted by a three-meter-long shark.
He was looking for abalone, a type of edible sea snail, before he got the not-so-pleasant surprise.
Nerhus was 41 years old when it happened.
Photo: Facebook
Seeing him swim towards him, the diver, who was 41 years old at the time, believed that in a few seconds all would be lost.
So much so that half of his body quickly ended up in the jaws of the animal
.
The man was stuck headfirst inside the predator as it sank its teeth into him and tried to crush him.
Fortunately for him, his enemy had a difficult time because he was wearing a tough diving suit.
After catching their prey, sharks often release their prey to bleed out so they can bite more easily.
Photo: AP
"
One minute it was daylight, the next second everything went black. Inside the jaws it was dark, I couldn't see anything because I was looking at the back of his throat. I've never
experienced
anything like this
," Nerhus revealed.
The animal then tried to bite him on the trachea and began to move uncontrollably: "
I started to be shaken horizontally with a very strong threshing movement. I thought 'this is the end, this is what it is to die
'."
But once again luck was on his side.
In the midst of the dramatic situation, the Australian, completely blind,
touched the shark's eye with his fingers and squeezed it as hard as he could so that the carnivore released it
.
And so it happened.
One of the bites Nerhus received on the shoulder.
Photo: The Sun
Eric was still very afraid because he knew that sharks sometimes set their victims free on purpose so they bleed out.
"The big round black eye stared straight into my face without an ounce of fear of any boat, any human being or any other animal in the sea. It was the most terrifying sight I have ever seen."
However, he did not hesitate to take advantage of the only opportunity that the animal gave him.
Nerhus breathed, calmed down, and returned to his ship
, where he was brought to safety by his own son.
From there he went to the Wollongong hospital to be treated for the severe bites.
"I'm glad to still be here. Sometimes you have a break in life... I'm a hard-working man who just wanted to survive very, very badly, at all costs," concluded the survivor more than a decade after the episode that marked his life.
Nerhus and his wife Tracy.
Photo: The Sun / Facebook
Speaking of sharks…
On March 9, while thousands of bathers flock to the beaches of Florida (United States) as spring offers days of sun and water, a non-profit organization Ocearch, which is dedicated to ocean research,
tracked down a huge 3.35 meter
(about 11 feet long)
and 545 kilograms
(1,200 pound) great white shark.
"Maple," the predatory female, was detected Monday southeast of St. George Island, Florida.
Ocearch's tracking was displayed on their site via Global Shark Tracker.
There the shark, a huge female soft shark called "Maple", was detected southeast of St. George Island, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico.
During the past two winter seasons, Maple has spent much of its time off the Gulf Coast, the organization said.
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