10.
ERIC NERHUS
Eric Nerhus was collecting shellfish off the Australian fishing town of Eden with his son
and some friends in 2007 when he was suddenly attacked 25 feet (7.6 meters) beneath the
waves!
Lurking below was a 10-foot-long (3 meters) shark!
Thought to be a great white, the creature nearly swallowed Eric alive!
Half his body was in its mouth as he fought desperately to free himself.
Thankfully, Eric survived to tell the harrowing story of how he escaped.
He told Australia’s Nine Network that he felt around for the shark’s eye socket and
pushed down into it with two of his fingers.
It shocked the creature into opening its mouth, giving Eric an opportunity to wriggle free.
The shark continued trying to bite the man as he swam to safety surrounded by a crimson
cloud of his own blood.
Eric credits a weighted lead vest he was wearing with keeping the animal’s teeth from sinking
into his chest and vital organs.
But he didn’t exactly emerge from the ordeal unscathed, and was treated at a hospital for
multiple injuries to his head, torso, and left arm.
According to an expert, the hungry shark likely mistook Nerhus for a seal, which are quite
common in the waters off Australia.
9.
CHAD BARKER
A Decatur, Illinois man named Chad Barker was grateful for his life last year after
not one, but two sharks attacked him during a vacation to Belize!
He and his wife decided to go snorkeling with nurse sharks, which is generally regarded
as a safe activity for tourists.
But things went terribly awry less than 30 seconds after the couple entered the water,
the current swept Chad into the middle of a shark feeding frenzy, and two eight-foot-long
(2.4 meters) specimens sank their teeth into his hand.
He told local station WAND 17 that the attack happened incredibly fast.
Less than one minute passed from the time Chad entered the water to the time he emerged
from it with deep wounds.
There was no emergency room nearby, so he was taken to a local OB/GYN, where he paid
$200 for what he considered to be less-than-good care.
Chad decided to finish out the trip despite his injuries.
In fact, he and his wife plan to retire in Belize, indicating that while the ordeal was
alarming, it fell short of traumatizing the pair.
Barker is apparently used to misfortune – he attributed the event to his inherently bad
luck, claiming that a “black cloud” follows him around.
And perhaps he’s right – only six percent of shark attacks involve snorkelers, making
what happened to him a very rare occurrence.
8.
JORDAN LINDSEY
In 2019, 21-year-old Jordan Lindsey joined her family on a trip to the Bahamas.
During their third day there, they decided on a whim to go snorkeling at Rose Island,
which is famous for its wild swimming pigs.
At some point during the excursion, Jordan suddenly began to scream.
She was being attacked by multiple sharks!
Her mother, Kami, desperately tried to pull her to safety, but her attempts were futile.
The sharks ripped off one of Jordan’s arms and bit her all over her body, including on
her legs, her behind, and the arm that they didn’t rip off.
By the time the young woman was pulled from the water, she was fading in and out of consciousness.
A boat arrived to take Jordan to emergency treatment, but it had no medical supplies
– not even a first-aid kit.
Her family members tried using towels to slow the bleeding, but their efforts were in vain.
It was unfortunately too late to save Jordan by the time she arrived at the hospital.
Her devastated loved ones called for better medical training among workers in the tourism
industry.
The company that hosted the snorkeling session offered its condolences to the distraught
family and promised to improve its safety protocols.
7.
ADRIENNE WIKSO
In May of last year, a bull shark attacked a 64-year-old Florida resident named Adrienne
Wikso out of the blue while she was on her longboard in the waters off New Smyrna Beach.
The vicious fish reportedly clamped its jaws down on the woman’s foot and refused to
let go as it emerged from the water, thrashing violently and tossing Wikso “like a fish”
in the process.
Wikso managed to free herself by kicking the shark with her free foot.
Her friend guided her to shore, leaving a bloody trail in the water behind them.
The victim was rushed to the hospital, where she underwent a four-hour operation to repair
her shredded foot.
Her prognosis was good – doctors predicted that Wikso would make a full recovery, at
least physically.
But emotionally disentangling from the traumatic event was another story, leaving the woman
unsure if she would ever swim in the ocean again.
New Smyrna Beach is one of the most notorious places in the world when it comes to the number
of shark bites that are known to happen there.
Most injuries are minor, but each encounter serves as a sobering reminder that nobody
is immune to a shark attack, and that there’s always a chance of things turning out much
worse, or perhaps even deadly.
And bites were uncharacteristically low last year, but experts did not take this as a sign
that things are improving long-term.
Instead, they attributed the unusually low bite rate to COVID-19 restrictions that kept
most people at home.
Have you swam with sharks?
Tell us about your experience in the comments below and be sure to subscribe if you haven’t
already!
:)
6.
LUCAS CRUZ
Fifteen-year-old Lucas Cruz came terrifyingly close to death in August of last year when
a 500-pound (227 kg) bull shark sank its teeth into his body.
The youngster was lobstering in the waters off Maine when the attack happened.
At first, he thought he had been hit by a boat, only to realize moments later that there
were no boats nearby.
The shark proceeded to bite Lucas all over his legs, causing serious muscle damage and
severing his Achilles tendon.
Cruz bled profusely, and while he didn’t think that he was going to die, he began to
worry that he might lose his leg.
He lost an estimated 70 percent of his blood volume, bringing him closer to death than
he probably realized.
But he survived, and doctors even managed to repair his legs.
Miraculously, they predicted that the boy would make a full recovery.
Speaking with Newsweek, Dr. Liz Rimal said that Lucas may need more reconstructive surgery
in the future, but she predicted that he would soon be “back to normal.”
The traumatized teen said that he didn’t plan on returning to the water anytime soon,
but that he was sure he would get back to it eventually.
Many of his family’s activities are water-based, so if he wants to spend as much quality time
with them as he’s used to, he kind of has no choice but to leave dry land at some point.
5.
KAELAH MARLOW
Nineteen-year-old Kaelah Marlow was the first person to die from a shark attack in New Zealand
in eight years last year.
She was in the water at Waihī Beach on the country’s North Island when bystanders suddenly
heard screaming.
A great white shark had grabbed hold of the young woman and was dragging her deeper into
the water as it viciously mauled her.
Lifeguards rushed to get Kaelah to dry land.
Emergency responders performed CPR on her for 20 minutes, but failed to revive her.
She suffered fatal injuries to her leg and was pronounced dead at the scene.
To prevent another tragedy, swimmers were ordered out of the water.
At a vigil memorializing Marlow, local resident Mark Wilson told the press that it was common
to see sharks in the area, and that he believed it was only a matter of time before a tragedy
like this would happen.
Other locals agreed that sharks are often seen in the region, but said that the creatures
are usually harmless.
4.
2010 EGYPT SHARK ATTACKS
Toward the end of 2010, the Egyptian seaside city of Sharm El Sheikh was hit with an unusually
high number of shark attacks.
The sudden spree of violence started on December 1 of that year when a shark left 48-year-old
Olga Martynenko with severe spine and limb injuries.
Thankfully, she survived thanks to some bystanders, who pulled her from the water.
The next attack happened just minutes later, when a shark bit off 70-year-old beachgoer
Lyudmila Stolyarova’s foot and arm.
Onlookers used rubber fins to scare the creature off.
Fifty-four-year-old Yevgeniy Trishkin was the angry shark’s next target.
He lost part of his leg in the ordeal.
After that, 46-year-old Viktor Koliy lost a foot.
All four victims were Russian and Ukrainian tourists.
The government immediately closed its beaches and summoned experts to investigate.
They caught two suspected culprits – a seven-and-a-half foot (2.3 meters) whitetip shark and an eight-foot-long
(2.4 meters) mako shark.
But the carnage resumed just a day after beaches reopened, when a shark bit off a 71-year-old
German woman’s arm.
Sadly, she died from her injuries.
Researchers suspected that shark behavior in the area had been changed by overfishing,
leading hungry creatures to become more aggressive toward humans than usual.
Additionally, scuba diving companies were accused of feeding sharks to attract tourists,
thereby teaching the animals to associate people with food.
The attacks may have also been triggered by bloody sheep remains that were dumped in the
water as part of the recent Eid al-Adha holiday.
3.
JULIE DIMPERIO HOLOWACH
While swimming with her daughter off Bailey Island during a vacation to Maine in 2020,
New York City resident Julie Dimperio Holowach was fatally attacked by a great white shark.
The mother-daughter duo were seen laughing and playing together in the water when a massive
creature suddenly breached the surface and pulled Holowach under.
At the same time, people nearby began to hear screaming.
The attack happened just 60 feet (18.3 meters) from shore.
Horrified onlookers watched as Holowach thrashed for just a few seconds before her body went
limp, according to NBC 10 Boston.
Good Samaritans and emergency responders worked together to get the 63-year-old woman to shore,
and they fought to save her life, but she tragically succumbed to her injuries.
Scientists identified the attacking specimen as a great white shark based on a tooth fragment
that was recovered from the scene.
The deadly incident was an “unusual event,” in the words of Maine Department of Resources
Commissioner Patrick Keliher.
And it’s true that great whites are rarely spotted in the waters off Maine, which is
at the northern end of their range.
But it’s also not unheard of for one to be seen in the area, and there are recorded
sightings dating back to the 1800s.
On average, two or three are spotted in the region every year.
But researchers think that number could soon increase due to climate change warming the
ocean.
2.
TOMAS ABRAHAM BUTTERFIELD
Details of a deadly shark attack that happened off the California coast late last year were
finally just released to the media.
Forty-two-year-old Tomas Abraham Butterfield was bodyboarding in Morro Bay off Sacramento
on Christmas Eve when a great white shark bit him in the head, leaving him with a fractured
skull and other catastrophic wounds.
He was dead within minutes of the attack.
Another surfer found the man tethered to his board and dragged him back to shore, but a
medical examiner later determined that he was probably dead before he reached dry land.
The newly released coroner’s report details the gruesome injuries, which include bites
to the head, chest, and shoulder, with the largest cut measuring 16 inches (41 cm) long.
One of the shark’s teeth was found inside Butterfield’s body.
DNA tests confirmed that it belonged to a great white!
Butterfield was in a turbulent area with murky waters known as “The Pit” when the fatal
encounter occurred.
Some surfers avoid these conditions because they believe that great whites are more likely
to be lurking in areas like this.
The victim’s uncle, Grant Butterfield, told the Los Angeles Times that the loss of his
nephew was terrible, especially since Tomas was just starting to make something of himself
when his life was cut short.
1.
PARKER BLANCHETTE
Parker Blanchette is an avid surfer who hits the waves six times a week even after being
attacked by a shark last year at the age of 14.
The eighth grader was surfing at North Beach near Honolulu when a shark came out of nowhere
and bit him in the foot.
He felt what he described as a small punch to the leg and swam to shore at the first
sight of blood.
Thankfully, the shark only clamped its jaws down for about a half-second before letting
go.
And the creature wasn’t huge – by Parker’s estimate, it measured roughly five-and-a-half
feet (1.7 meters) long.
But it still managed to do quite a bit of damage.
Once he reached dry land, Parker called his mom, Amanda, and calmly told her about what
had happened.
His laid-back approach to a serious medical emergency helped to keep Amanda from panicking
as EMT’S treated the wound and took her son to the emergency room, where he received
over 100 stitches.
Parker spent two days in the hospital.
Amanda was inspired by the boy’s ability to keep his cool in a stressful and terrifying
situation.
She was especially surprised to learn that the shark had bit Parker dangerously close
to an artery.
He was lucky that it missed the mark, which would have easily killed him.
In a demonstration of maturity that proves he’s wise beyond his years, Parker acknowledged
that when he goes surfing, he’s in the shark’s territory.
He wasn’t angry at the animal, and said that he was eager to heal so that he could
get back out on the water.
Thanks for watching!
Would you rather have your foot torn off by a shark or have to spend the night alone in
the jungle?
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See you next time, bye! :)