Conger Eel Attacks Underwater Diver, Bites Chunk Out Of His Face
A diver has been reliving the horrific moment that a two meter long conger eel attacked him under the water and took a chunk out of his face.
Jimmy Griffin was scuba diving off the coast of Connemara, Country Galway when the animal lunged and attacked him 25 meters below the surface of the water. The 48-year-old remarked that the creature looked to drag him down to ocean floor, after it had emerged from the abyss of the water.
Mr Griffin, who works as a baker by day, stated that it was like being punched in the face and that, when the conger eel caught him, it knocked his breathing apparatus out of his mouth.
He recalled, “I’ve been diving for 20 years. I hadn’t been in the water for two years and popped in to say hi to my buddies. So I went down and had a great time. It was coming close to the end and we were turning round to go surface.”
The Irishman continued, “We were looking at large lobsters and I was floating in the water. Suddenly I got hit and it was to the face. But what made it different was because it gripped onto my face and started biting, pulling and twisting.”
Mr. Griffin started to wrestle with the conger eel as he looked to break its strangle hold on his face and get back above the water.
You can look at the damage to his face below. Warning, they are graphic images though.
He went on to add, “I try to be calm all the time, its fight or flight, your reaction is trying to get rid of the things so I put my hands up to wrestle this thing and my mouthpiece came out. I felt this harp horrible pain and saw this eel swim off. I knew I had been bitten but didn’t know how badly, it was very numb.”
Jimmy’s wounds required 20 stitches; however, he will need to receive plastic surgery over the coming months, which will eventually make his scar unnoticeable.
