“I’ve never felt fear in my life like what I felt in the jaws of that white pointer”
A diver who was swallowed alive by a great white shark recalled the horrifying moment he was trapped inside the beast.
Being eaten alive is certainly one of the most horrifying experiences a person could endure. Imagine being stuck inside the jaws of a ferocious animal, conscious enough to know what’s happening to you but helpless to save yourself.
For most of us, this is an experience we’re unlikely to endure – however for diver Eric Nerhus this was an experience he would somehow survive to tell the tale.
Eric, from Eden – a coastal town in New South Wales – Australia, was out collecting shellfish on the coast when he encountered the 10ft beast in a surprise attack back in 2007.
He had been unable to see the shark approaching due to poor visibility in the water, and was taken by surprise when the beast clamped its razor sharp jaws around his head.
Despite being protected from the worst of the attack due to a lead-lined vest, Eric spent an agonising two minutes inside the animal’s mouth – with his body sliding down into the creature’s throat at one point.
Thinking fast though, Eric was able to use a chisel he was carrying to jab at the shark’s eye – causing it to loosen its jaws.
“Half my body was in its mouth. I felt down to the eye socket with my two fingers and poked them into the socket,” he told Nine Network news at the time.
He continued: “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.
“I’ve never felt fear in my life like what I felt in the jaws of that white pointer.
“I went straight into its mouth, front onwards. Half my body was in its throat. It was like being in a dark cave.”
Once free from the beast, Eric swam to the surface in a cloud of his own blood – fearful that the animal would follow his scent and attack him once again.
“It was just circling around my flippers, round in round in tight circles,” he added.
“The big round black eye, 5 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.”
Eric was helped back onto the boat by his son, where he was then treated for severe cuts to his severe cuts to his head, torso and arm.
Recalling the experience in an interview with The Sun, he added: “I started to get shaken horizontally with a really hard threshing motion. I thought ‘is this the end, is this what is like to die’.
“I was actually being eaten alive.”
Eric was praised by co-worker Dennis Luobikis, who told Reuters: “He was actually bitten by the head … the shark swallowed his head.
“The brunt of the bite was taken by his lead weight vest. It’s all over your torso. Eric said to me at the wharf that his weight vest saved him.”
Dennis went on to praise his ‘tough’ friend for how he handled the experience, saying: “He pushed his abalone chisel into the shark’s head while it was biting, and it let him go and swam away.
“Eric is a tough boy – he’s super fit. But I would say that would test anyone’s resolve, being a fish lunch.”