Spearfisherman recounts scary strike by bull shark

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A spearfishing trip could have turned deadly after a twelve foot bull shark took a big bite out of a diver's leg.

Anthony Segrich, 32, said he is lucky to be alive after getting into some big trouble with that shark in the waters off Palm Beach Tuesday afternoon.

Anthony credits his life to his experience as a diver and the actions of two of his friends who were with him sixty feet below the surface.

"It (the shark) came back a second time and John (fellow diver) went after it and made sure it didn't get to me," Segrich said. But the shark had already gotten to Segrich, tearing a 13-inch hole from knee to ankle.

Friend John Ippolito was twenty feet away when the shark bit down on his friend's leg.

"It was just instantly getting him up to the surface and getting him out of the water as fast as we could," said Ippolito.

Friends brought Segrich to the surface, rushed him to shore and then to the emergency room at St. Mary's Medical Center.

126 stitches later, Segrich will be off of his feet for a few months, but he will dive again.

Doctors said that Segrich was losing a lot of blood Tuesday, but he will recover.

"The experience really counted for them. I don't think he would have made it out of the water the way that he came," said Dr. Robert Borrego.