Drone footage has captured the moment a 12ft alligator attacks a man and chomps on his head but he manages to survive.
Juan Carlos La Verde goes swimming off a dock at Lake Thonotosassa near Tampa in Florida but does not spot the huge alligator in his direct path, the video shows.
After taking a few strokes, the triathlete and the vicious reptile meet in the water and the beast attempts to kill the swimmer.
Footage shows splashing as the 34-year-old ex-member of the United States Air Force Pararescue attempts to reach the shore after the creature bit off his face, in what he calls a legitimate "miracle."
“With the right stroke, all I felt was scales, teeth and then right there I’m like okay. So, what I think I did, what I felt like I did, was that I immediately tried to open its jaws because I knew I was in a gator", he told WFTS-TV Tampa.
He said as soon as he felt the teeth he knew he was in trouble but somehow managed to escape from death and call 911.
La Verde had serious injuries to his face and head and had a six-hour surgery at Tampa General Hospital to repair and reconstruct damage to his skull, according to a GoFundMe set up for him.
He has a puncture to his brain, no bones on the right side of his head and his jaw will remain wired almost shut for the next few weeks.
The ex-firefighter was filming a promotional video of himself swimming in the lake, hence the footage of the attack, in preparation for an upcoming race.
Despite the horrific ordeal, he says he is "perfectly fine" because it has given him a new perspective on life.
There have been around two more fatal alligator attacks in Florida this year.
In July, an elderly woman died after falling into a lake and being grabbed by two alligators in Florida and another man was killed by an alligator while searching for Frisbees in a lake in late May.
