An Italian boy was attacked by a shark in Australia, where he lives for study and work reasons.
"I no longer have a leg but I'm alive, my grandfather protected me," says Matteo Mariotti, 20, from a hospital in Brisbane, Queensland.
«On Friday it was 4.30pm and I had just learned that my grandfather Giovanni had died. I needed to relax and I thought I'd take a swim not far from the shore, also because there were other people in the water. I put on the mask with the snorkel but I certainly wouldn't have gone far; I also took a small camera to film the small fish, as I always do, but after a few steps in the water, I felt a terrible pang in my foot."
In an instant the pain reached my entire leg, «the shark began to drag me out to sea, until at a certain point I managed to grab its head with my hands, I struggled to widen that big mouth and freed my leg, even though I understood that from the knee down there was nothing left."
Then Matteo began to swim towards the shore: «I was screaming in fear that the shark would reach me, I was screaming to ask for help from my friend Tommaso (nurse and diving instructor) who was on the beach. He saved me, he recovered me, called for help, held my injured leg to stop the bleeding until the helicopter arrived. Running, he carried me on his shoulder to the stretcher."
He underwent leg surgery at Brisbane Hospital and another operation is scheduled for Tuesday. But thanks to Tommaso Matteo, despite having partially lost the use of his left leg, he is alive.
(Unioneonline/L)
