Man miraculously survives after prank on friends takes terrifying turn
A diver who tried to prank his friends by pretending to be an alligator has revealed he's lucky to be alive after a gator attacked him for real.
Whilst conducting one of his routine searches for fossils with pals in the Peace River, in the US state of Florida, Henry Sadler decided to explore deeper than he had been before.
He'd been joking with his friends, grabbing their feet and pretending to be a monster from the deep.
Hoping to cover a larger area, Henry, 25, decided to drift backwards down the river – and laughed when he felt what he thought was a friend grabbing his flipper.
However, as soon as he realised his friends were nowhere to be seen and as he felt the pressure increase on his foot, the science teacher discovered he was in trouble.
Before he knew it, Henry's foot was being crushed in the jaws of a nine-foot alligator which was trying to drag him under water.
But he miraculously survived thanks to the gator chewing his scuba fin, his inflatable equipment keeping him afloat and the decision to wear two wetsuits, which saved his leg from severe damage.
Despite being left with a lack of feeling on his ankle and an array of scars, Henry owes his life to his scuba equipment.
"I've been diving for fossils in this river for five years now but have never had any grief from alligators,” he said.
"At first my foot was crushed but there wasn't really much pain – but then my leg went from being in a vice grip to a death roll and that's when I knew something was wrong.
"Luckily I started inflating part of my scuba equipment which was able to lift me up and keep me above water, because the gator was trying to drag me under.
"The gator was fixated on my foot so I just spent 10 seconds kicking him before he floated to the top of the water and readjusted his bite, as if I was his food."
But thanks to the alligator getting ready to take a bite, and his scuba equipment, Henry was able to change the beast's target.
"Because the gator opened his mouth a little bit, he was able to bite into my scuba fin instead of my body, so I quickly pulled my foot out and kicked him off me,” Henry said.
"It felt as though I was running on water, I escaped from him that quickly.
"I don't even remember getting out of the water but within three minutes my friends were there and we started the long journey to get to the hospital.”
Henry said as the hours passed his gash grew worse and it was almost impossible to walk.
"When I got to the hospital they cleaned the bite out with saline solution and antiseptic, but didn't want to stitch it up in case it got infected because alligator mouths are incredibly dirty,” he said.
"So they put me in a brace and I spent the next week limping around.
"Now I can't really feel anything in my left foot and I'm incredibly scarred, but at least I'm alive to tell the story."
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo’s daily newsletter. Sign up here.
