Western Australian spearfisherman Keiron Benson hugged a shark to prevent it from attacking it after shooting it through the eye at Five Fingers Reef, Coral Bay
- Keiron Benson escaped a shark attack in WA
- He impaled the shark’s eye and hugged its tail
A spearfisherman narrowly avoided being mauled by a vicious shark by hugging it for life after impaling it in the eye when it suddenly attacked.
Albany man Keiron Benson and his family had spent several days during the school holidays earlier this month at Five Fingers Reef, on the north coast of Western Australia.
But what had been a fun trip of snorkeling, fishing and swimming took a dramatic turn when Mr. Benson decided to go fishing on their last day.
The father said he wanted to celebrate the end of the journey by catching a fish to cook for dinner.
At about 3 p.m., he grabbed his harpoon gun and the family took their dinghy about 200 yards offshore.
Mr. Benson dived alone while his partner, daughter and stepson waited in the boat.
Keiron Benson (above) survived a shark attack off Five Fingers Reef, Western Australia earlier this month
Mr. Benson had spent several days at Five Fingers Reef (above) swimming, snorkeling and fishing with his partner, daughter and stepson
“I was about to go back when I saw a big figure in the water,” he told the ABC.
The shape turned out to be a large shark that Mr. Benson believes was a tiger or bull shark.
“It started circling around me every time it got closer…it just got bigger and I realized it wasn’t a reef shark like we’d seen before,” he said.
At that point, Mr. Benson had drifted quite a distance from his family’s boat, so he did his best to wave them over to help him while still trying to stay calm.
When he looked back into the water, the shark was almost at the end of his harpoon gun.
It was then that Mr. Benson noticed that the shark immediately became more aggressive and approached.
“It was right at the end of the gun. I just thought, ‘Shoot’ and I did, and at that exact moment it must have decided to shoot and attack me,” he said.
A shark (example above) tried to attack Mr. Benson while he was spearfishing, knocking him unconscious by shooting his spear through his eye
Mr. Benson (above) survived the rest of the attack by holding on to the shark’s tail as it tried to bite it
His rifle managed to hit the shark’s eye socket knocking him unconscious, but the momentum he had built up to attack meant he slammed into Mr Benson’s side.
With his family still feet away, the father knew he only had moments to save his life.
The tail hooked under my shoulder [and it] gave me the idea to continue. I grabbed the tail and just hugged it,” he said.
Seconds later, the shark regained consciousness and began to attack.
“It started to bend back…snarled at me…we started turning underwater several times in a spin,” said Mr. Benson.
The pair continued to struggle when the dinghy stopped next to them.
During several gruesome moments, Mr. Benson and the shark slammed into the water as his family watched.
It was only when the shark suddenly dived down that the father saw an opportunity to escape and jumped into the boat.
“I just flew in the boat, can’t remember touching the sides, I just jumped in,” he said.
Mr Benson (pictured with partner, Hollie) managed to climb aboard his family’s boat and escaped the attack with no significant injuries
Miraculously, he managed to escape the encounter with only bruises.
Fisheries workers use DNA from Mr. Benson’s speargun to determine which shark species was responsible for the attack.
The shark is thought to have moved closer to shore in an attempt to find fish during an unusually quiet season.