In Reply to: shark attack: Diver tells of cheating death in Australia posted by on January 17, 2006 at 10:27:08:

PERTH, Australia -- A 52-year-old man vowed Monday to continue scuba diving despite being mauled by a 3.5-meter great white shark off the Australian west coast.

Brian Williams was recovering in a hospital in the Western Australia state capital Perth with lacerations to his left arm, which was bitten by the shark on Sunday as he dove for lobsters with two friends off a city beach.

Williams described how he wrenched his arm from the shark's mouth as it opened its jaws to take a second bite and escaped to a seabed crevice where he hid until his friends came to his rescue five minutes later with a fish-repelling electrical prod.

"I just felt like I'd been hit by a truck on the side ... and there was a very large shark head hanging off my arm, trying to chew it," Williams told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio of the attack.

Williams said the shark dragged him for a "bit of a ride" before trying to take a second bite.

He said the shark lunged at him several times as he cowered on the seabed before his companions arrived with the prod. The shark then disappeared without the prod being used.

Williams said the shark was the biggest he had seen in 20 years of diving but the attack would not deter him.

"But I'll definitely be investing in a shark prod," Williams said.

The attack came just over a week after a woman was fatally attacked by up to four sharks in shallow waters off an island near Australia's east coast. (AP)

• MSN Japan