Scuba diver survives great white attack

A scuba diver has survived an attack by a great white shark by fighting it off with his speargun and his hands.

Australian Bernie Williams was diving for crayfish off the coast off Perth when the shark bit his arm. He told television reporters: "I just got hit by a very big shark. It came on my left hand side, from below. I never even saw it coming.

"I stabbed it on the nose with a speargun, but it was just like hitting a lump of steel."

The nine-foot long fish attacked again, dragging the 46-year-old through the water.

"It chomped on my arm and took me for a ride for about two metres (six feet)," Mr Williams said.

The violent attack carried on for up to eight minutes but Mr Williams finally managed to get away suffering only severe puncture wounds to his arm.

A companion of Mr Williams had an electronic shark repellant device attached to his air tanks - but the victim said his survival was "pure luck".

Earlier this month, a 21-year-old woman was killed when she was attacked by a group of bull sharks off Australia's north east coast.

According to the Australian Shark Attack File at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, there have been 654 recorded shark attacks in Australian waters in just over 200 years.

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com