GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (AP) — Out of breath and pinned by an alligator at the bottom of South Carolina’s Cooper River, Will Georgitis decided his only chance to survive might be to lose his arm.
The alligator had secured its jaws around Georgitis’ arm and after trying to escape by stabbing him with the screwdriver it uses to extract fossilized shark teeth from the riverbed, the alligator shook the diver and dragged him 50 feet (15 meters) down, Georgitis told the Post and Courier.
“I knew I was going to die right then and there,” he told the Charleston newspaper.
The alligator attacked Georgitis on April 15 as he surfaced from his dive, almost out of air. His tank emptied and the alligator’s jaws crushed the arm he raised to defend himself. Georgitis thought he had one last chance.
“I put my feet against him and I lunged as hard as I could and I ripped my arm out, but I didn’t rip it off,” Georgitis told ABC’s Good Morning America.
Georgitis swam frantically to a friend’s waiting boat and was taken ashore and to hospital. His arm was broken and he needed a “ton” of staples to close the wounds caused by the alligator’s teeth, he said.
There are probably several surgeries and six months of recovery. His family created a page on GoFundMe to raise money to pay his medical bills.
“From now on, every moment is a blessing for me,” Georgitis told Good Morning America.
Georgitis frequently dives for shark teeth and other fossils in the waters around Charleston. He’s been to the location where he was attacked at least 30 times, and while he’s seen alligators before, they usually lounge on their backs or stay far away.
He was amazed that it rushed towards him as soon as he resurfaced.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is aware of the attack and is investigating.
South Carolina has about 100,000 alligators, which are federally protected species and have strict rules about when they can be removed or killed, wildlife officials said.
Attacks are rare and usually occur on land when alligators attack pets or someone falls into a pond. South Carolina has seen at least six fatal alligator attacks since 2016.
A 550-pound (250-kilogram) alligator attacked and tore off the arm of a snorkeler in 2007 in Lake Moultire. He staggered ashore in search of help and five nurses at a picnic were able to provide first aid until paramedics arrived.
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