Western Australian spear-fisherman Kieron Benson hugs a shark to stop it from attacking him after shooting it in the eye at Five Finger Reef, Coral Bay.
Kieron Benson survives shark attack at WAA, shoots shark’s eye and grabs its tail
A spear-fisherman narrowly avoided death by being embraced by a vicious shark when he speared him in the eye when it suddenly attacked him.
Albanian man Kieron Benson and his family spent several days on the Five Finger Reef off Western Australia’s north coast during the school holidays earlier this month.
But the fun trip of snorkeling, fishing and swimming takes a dramatic turn when Mr. Benson decides to go fishing on their last day.
Dad said he wanted to celebrate the end of the trip by fishing to cook dinner.
Around 3 a.m. he grabbed his spear gun and the family rowed their dinghy about 200 meters offshore.
Mr Benson dived alone while his partner, daughter and stepson waited on the boat.
Kieron Benson (above) survived a shark attack at Five Finger Reef in Western Australia earlier this month.
Mr Benson spent several days swimming, snorkelling and fishing at Five Fingers Reef (above) with his partner, daughter and stepson.
‘I was going back when I saw a big shape in the water,’ he told the ABC.
The shape turned out to be a large shark which Mr Benson believed to be a tiger or bull shark.
‘It started circling me, getting closer every time… it got bigger and I realized it wasn’t a reef shark like we’d seen before,’ he said.
At this point Mr. Benson was a fair way from his family’s boat so he did his best to cover them to help him while he tried to stay calm.
When he looked back into the water, the shark was near the end of his spear.
At that point Mr. Benson noticed the shark instantly became more aggressive and moved closer.
‘It was right at the end of the gun. I just thought, “Shoot” and I did, and at that exact moment it decided to pounce on me,’ he said.
A shark (example above) attempted to attack Mr. Benson while he was spearfishing, knocking him unconscious by shooting him in the eye with the spear.
Mr Benson (above) survived the rest of the attack by holding onto the shark’s tail as it tried to bite him.
His gun managed to hit the shark in the eye socket, knocking it unconscious, but the momentum it built to attack meant it hit Mr Benson in the side.
With his family still meters away, the father knew he had moments to save his life.
‘The tail is tucked under my shoulder [and it] Gave me the wisdom to hang on. I grabbed the tail and hugged it,’ he said.
After only a few seconds the shark regains consciousness and starts trying to attack.
‘It just started arching around… started lurching towards me… we started to spin and go around underwater a few times,’ Mr Benson said.
The pair continue to struggle as the dinghy pulls alongside them.
For several terrifying moments Mr. Benson and the shark collided in the water as his family watched.
When the shark suddenly went down, the father saw an opportunity to escape and jumped into the boat.
‘I just flew into the boat, didn’t remember touching the side, just jumped,’ he said.
Mr Benson (pictured with partner, Holly) managed to climb into his family’s boat and escape the attack without major injury.
Miraculously, he managed to escape the encounter with only injuries.
Fishermen are using DNA from Mr. Benson’s speargun to identify which species of shark is responsible for the attack.
It is believed that the shark may have come close to shore in an attempt to find fish during the unusually quiet season.
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