Shelly Beach shark attack survivor recounts ordeal: 'It was scary'
A south coast diver who was bitten by a shark says during the attack, he had made peace with the fact that he may lose his hand.
"I had a look while my hand was stuck in the mouth, I went for the free ride until she let go of my hand. That's all that I had in mind," says Renier Krugar.
Krugar is a dive master and free dive instructor.
He was on a baited dive along the Protea Reef when the incident took place at Shelly Beach on Friday.
Krugar says the dive started well, adding that the shark that bit him had been swimming in the reef for about 30 minutes before the attack.
He says the resident Black Tip Reef shark has been there for years.
READ: Shark attacks diver at Shelly Beach
"She came from the blind side below and behind me and she came right to my hand and bit onto my hand. She only bite once and held on and dragged my for about five-plus metres. I didn't panic or stress. I just accepted at that point what was happening. I would say it was pretty scary."
Krugar says after the shark let go of him his girlfriend who is in the medical field and was also on the dive with him helped him back up to the surface where he was rushed to hospital.
"My hand got a lot of lacerations and nervous tendons badly damaged, my pinky got dislocated, meaning it wasn't in place anymore, it was pretty much bitten off on the bone structure. They did place a pin inside my hand and from there they stitched my hand, and all my tendons and nerves back together. It was pretty much almost a through bite."
Krugar will start physio next week to try and get movement back into his hand.
