British Diver Recounts Swimming 4.5 miles To Escape From A Tiger Shark

A British diver recently described his experience of fleeing from a shark. The diver, later identified as John Craig explained how he swam 4.5 miles to save his life after he was circled by a 4-meter-long (13 feet) tiger shark off the coast of Australia.

Craig, 34, was a resident of Sunderland which is a local government district in Tyne and Wears, in North East England before he moved to Australia two years ago. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he revealed that he was spearfishing with his friend on Shark Bay in Western Australia when he lost sight of his boat, the Guardian reported.

Craig also expressed his distress at being alone in open water. "I was trying to splash and scream and shout to get my friend’s attention. All of the splashing, I could feel my heart rate up because I was panicking that I had been left, and after about five or 10 minutes of this I just put my head in the water to check I was still in the same place, and then at arm’s reach there was this huge 4-meter tiger shark … It was at that moment I realized, I have just got to forget about the boat and go totally into survival mode."

He further shared how he continued to keep his head in the water despite being in a difficult position. He also relived how the shark kept coming back to him and how he fended it off using his spear gun.

Craig described the experience as scary and said, "It was terrifying. I thought I was just going to be eaten out here in the middle of nowhere... this shark is just not leaving me alone."

Speaking about his rescue, Craig shared that he spotted a red cliff "very low on the horizon" and decided to swim towards Francois Perron National Park. He revealed that the shark followed him for about 15 minutes. "At this point, I thought I was gone — 4 nautical miles out to sea with a huge tiger shark following me — I thought this was it, this is how I am going to die," he said, after which he lost sight of the shark, as it disappeared.

When asked by the BBC about how long he swam before he was rescued, Craig put the estimation around three hours, after which he noticed an air and sea rescue effort underway.

He explained that unable to gain anybody’s attention, he walked towards a campsite after which a plane spotted him.

Glen Ridgley from Shark Bay Volunteer Marine Rescue told the BBC: "I could not believe that someone could swim that far in such a short period of time. I guess where there's a shark beside you spurring you on... it's like a trainer."

After the rescue, Craig was happily reunited with his wife on one of the rescue boats. As for the boat he had, Craig revealed that it experienced some technical difficulties and his friend was safe.

According to the International Shark Attack File, tiger sharks are responsible for the second-highest number of reported attacks on humans.