A man who had his lower right arm and right leg ripped off by a shark says it was just a 'bad day at the office'.
Paul De Gelder, who is a military diver, was doing a routine exercise when the shark attacked him and savaged him as he tried to fight back under the water.
Despite losing two of his limbs, after three months in rehabilitation, Paul, 42, returned to work in the Navy.
The incident occurred in Sydney Harbour, Australia, back in 2009.
Paul said: "The bull shark came from beneath me and grabbed me by the right leg and hand in the same bite whilst dragging me underwater.
"I could feel the muscle from my hamstring and hand being ripped off whilst drowning at the same time."
Paul, from Melbourne, described the pain as being like two rows of 36 razor blades on either side of his leg and wrist, shredding his flesh.
Speaking about his experience, Paul said that when he watches the footage back, it seems like the incident was all over in a matter of seconds.
But to Paul, in the moment, time seemed to stand still.
He said: "It felt like it went really slowly.
"From going to jab him in the eyeball with my hand, to working out that my hand was in his mouth as well, to trying to go for the eyeball with my other hand, pushing it, punching it, then going under water, coming up, and going back down..."
Gesturing to his amputated limb, Paul said, "All of a sudden I was free, and just trying to swim for my safety boat and seeing that my wetsuit finished at the end of my arm..."
Paul says that before the attack, during his work as a diver dismantling underwater bombs, he was always terrified that he might come across a shark.
But now, his phobia appears to have disappeared.
He said: "I was petrified of them before, and now for some reason, I'm just not. I don't know. Been there, done that."
Paul said that he has fallen in love with sharks since the attack, and since 2012, has been a motivational speaker who raises awareness about the shark's role in the ecosystem.
He added: "Before the shark attack, I thought killing sharks was a great idea, but now I love them, and I don't get to swim with them as much as I would like to."
