A mother of three described the moment she escaped from a great white shark by hitting it in the eye after being dragged 30 feet underwater.
Leeanne Ericson, 38, swam on the beach of San Onofre, in southern California, while her boyfriend Dusty Phillips surfed nearby.
6 6
6 6
6 6
Speaking about the 2017 incident for National Geographic’s annual Sharkfest two-week season, she described the moment when she realized something was in the water below her.
“It was so beautiful that weekend. The water was so blue and shiny, “he said.
“We noticed that a fur seal had appeared to my left and looked directly at us, and I looked at my fiancé Dusty and said, ‘That fur seal looks a little scared to me.’
“And right away he dived again. So I started swimming toward shore. “
Within seconds, the shark grabbed onto the top of Leeanne’s right leg and began dragging her below the surface.
“As soon as he grabbed my leg, I knew what it was,” he said.
“I remember being detained and I thought about my children.
“And I remember thinking about my fiancé without knowing where he was or what was happening to me.
“I walked about 25-30 feet. I could see the light changing and getting darker and darker as it went down.”
‘A CRY THAT I HAVE NEVER HEARD’
Dusty described rowing nearby when he heard Leeanne scream.
“It was a piercing scream that I had never heard. And it disappeared, half-screaming,” he said.
“I turned around as fast as I could and there wasn’t even a wave. Where the hell did he go?”
The animal that attacked Leeanne is believed to be a large juvenile target, and experts say he probably mistaken her for a sea lion.
He managed to free himself only after scratching the shark’s face and hitting it in the eye.
“I put my whole hand in his eye and put it in as much as I could,” he said.
“It was super smooth, I felt like I had put my hand in a jelly cup.
“The shark pulled away from me and was swimming to the surface.”
After Leeanne returned to the surface, Dusty took her to her surfboard and brought her back to shore, where an air ambulance was already waiting for her.
A paramedic described that “I wasn’t even bleeding anymore” because I had already lost a lot of blood.
DEPP OF DESPAIR
Depp passed out covered in ice cream when Amber said ‘you’re pathetic’
MASKED BUYER
Brits will be forced to wear masks in stores from July 24 or face a £ 100 fine
GLEE TRAGEDY
Naya Rivera’s body was found floating 5 days after lifting her son in a boat and disappearing
AIR DRAMA
RAF typhoon aircraft scrambled while encountering bomb threat in toilets on Ryanair flight
GUN RAID
Police moments rush to the Apprentice winner’s floor after a friend throws a ‘toy gun in the air’
Missing baby
Girl, 1, found after a frenzied four-day search in London
Leeanne spent nine weeks in intensive care after the attack and underwent eight surgeries to repair the damage to her leg, racking up “millions” on medical bills.
She still doesn’t feel anything in her leg and had to learn to walk again, but she said she is grateful to be alive.
The documentary series comes just days after 15-year-old Mani Hart-Deville died in a shark attack while sailing off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
6 6
6 6
6 6
