http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005133052,00.html
TERRIFIED Briton Mark Currie came within inches of being eaten by a Jaws monster.
Tourist Mark, 32, was sure he was going to die as the huge Great White shark attacked a metal cage he was dangling in.
The 18ft giant slammed into the cage, ripping a buoy keeping it afloat and buckling the mesh. Then it leaped through the top trying to get to Mark.
Recalling the nightmare off South Africa, he said: “It was as if it had worked out how to reach me and was deliberately sinking the cage.
“It just seemed immense, this huge mass of muscle and power ripping the cage apart.
“I still can’t believe I got out of there alive. Every time I shut my eyes I can see the shark’s teeth closing in.”
The entire encounter was caught on film on Mark’s own camcorder, which he had handed to another tripper on a tourist boat.
Mark, who was wearing only a wetsuit and diving mask, tried ducking under the surface to get as far away from the shark as he could — but realised he would drown.
He finally escaped by bravely jumping on to the part of the cage which was still floating so the boat’s crew could haul him back aboard.
Amazingly he survived without a scratch — and said he would do it all again.
The retail manager from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, had gone on the shark-spotting expedition off the port of Hermanus, near Cape Town.
He had stopped off in South Africa during a round-the world trip to visit nine-year-old son Callum, who lives there with an ex-girlfriend.
The tourists were taken out on a 20ft boat to a spot nine miles offshore where sharks congregate in a narrow channel between two islands.
The boat was equipped with a cage which was dropped into the water to chest height.
Mark said: “The crew had slung a tuna head over the side to attract sharks.
“I was on the boat with other tourists and two girls were in the cage watching smaller sharks about 6ft long.
“Then out of nowhere came this massive creature, a Great White. It was only a couple of feet smaller than the boat and everyone gasped. I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, look at that!’.”
The girls screamed and were taken out of the cage but, despite the danger, Mark couldn’t resist climbing IN.
He went on: “Once I was in the water the shark seemed even bigger and not very pleased to see me. It circled me twice and never took its eye off me for a second. Then without warning it attacked. It rose out of the water and tore at one of the buoys.
“Its head and jaws were in the cage with me, just a few inches away. I could have put my head into its mouth.
“I didn’t have any breathing apparatus on or even a snorkel but I instinctively tried to back myself into a corner of the cage under the water.
“The captain of the boat was bashing the shark on the head with a metal pole, but that just seemed to make it worse. It was thrashing the water in a real frenzy.
“I was trapped and convinced I was going to die. I did manage to come up for air two or three times, but every time I did that it brought me nearer the teeth.
“In the end I knew I had to risk it or drown. I made a break for it and managed to get past the shark and on to the part of the cage still floating and I was dragged back on to the boat.”
Locals reckon shark attacks are rising because tourism boats throw buckets of chopped-up fish into the sea to attract them.
Just two weeks earlier a 77-year-old woman was killed by a Great White in the area.
Mark added: “I think the shark that came after me was the same one that had eaten that woman. They say that they get the taste for it.
“It was only when I watched the video that I realised how close I came to being eaten alive.
“But I am glad that I did it and I would do it again. I’m just glad that I lived to tell the tale — with all my limbs intact.”