A CHAMPION freediver clambers on board a boat with blood pouring from his leg after being savaged by a shark.
Dramatic video footage shows Cristian Castaño being helped by friends after he was ambushed on a training dive in the Caribbean.
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Cristian, 38, and his fellow athletes were practising diving without oxygen ahead of the world championships later this month.
Suddenly an oceanic whitetip shark attacked him and bit his right leg and both hands near Colombia’s San Andrés islands on Tuesday.
Rangers from Coralina, the environmental agency in the marine park, were close by and raced to help in their boat.
The video shows Cristian nursing his wounded leg after he hauled himself out of the water.
Blood can be seen smeared over the side of the vessel before he was taken to shore and then to hospital.
The video also shows the large grey shark swimming close by following the attack.
Later Cristian posted a photo from his hospital bed on Instagram, showing his leg and hands in bandages.
He joked: “You should see how the shark turned out.”
He suffered a number of bites, but was released later after the wounds were stitched.
Cristian is a freediving teacher and a member of Colombia’s national team preparing for the world championships in Honduras.
The Coralina agency said the group had been “surprised by several oceanic whitetip sharks that frequent deep areas”.
It added: “One of the sharks bit (out of curiosity) a freediver… a situation that did not become serious thanks to the quick reaction of Coralina’s personnel who were in the area and managed to help the divers.”
The the diver was able to lift himself onto the boat during his rescue and remained conscious the whole time, it said.
The agency said it will be on the lookout for sharks in to make sure there are no further attacks.
But it added: “It is important to remind the community that sharks are in their natural habitat and it is humans who enter their domain.
“Therefore, we must have greater respect for nature and take precautions for this type of encounter.”
Last year an Italian tourist died after a shark attack in the San Andrés islands.
Antonio Straccialini, 56, was mauled by an 8ft tiger shark which tore a chunk from his leg as he swum near a cliff.
In April this year, Coralina issued a warning against tour operators dumping pig carcasses into the sea to attract sharks and offer sightings near the islands.
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