Stranded divers had to fight off Komodo dragons to survive

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The divers who went missing off Indonesia were forced to beat off deadly Komodo dragons with the lead weights of their diving belts as they were repeatedly attacked, one of the survivors disclosed last night.

The group, including three Britons, said that they were still coming to terms with how close they came to death in a two-day ordeal in which they were plunged from one life-threatening crisis to another.

Having been swept away and "spun around" for 10 hours in shark-infested waters, they reached the beach of a remote island at nightfall, only to find it was inhabited by Komodo dragons, the world's largest and most deadly lizards.

A Swedish woman who was with the group told how she fought off a terrifying reptile three times with her weightbelt - used by divers to maintain their buoyancy underwater. The 10ft carnivorous predator came within inches of biting her bare feet. It chewed on the lead belt before finally retreating as the divers threw rocks at its head.

Helena Nevalainen, 38, said: "It was big... It tried to have a go at my feet. I threw my diving belt. He came back and bit my diving belt and then he let go. After that he came back one more time," the tourist said. "I am just happy I'm here, I'm alive," she said.

Komodo dragons are unpredictable predators that have attacked and killed humans in the past. A simple bite can be fatal, because the reptile's saliva contains 50 virulently toxic species of bacteria.

Meanwhile Charlotte Allin, 24, one of the British divers has told how she has gone into a state of shock at realising how close to death she came.

In a phone call to her mother, Susan, in Bideford, Devon, she said he was lucky to be alive. "She is in a state of complete shock. She said she just can't believe what has happened to them and how lucky they are to be alive. Her main emotion was happiness and relief at having survived."

Miss Allin and her boyfriend James Manning, a former Royal Marine, have been working as dive instructors in Thailand for the past three years, having moved there shortly after the Tsunami.

They had taken a month's holiday in Indonesia and gone for an hour-long dive with a company run by a British woman, Kathleen Mitchinson, off the western coast of Indonesia's Flores island, last Thursday.

Miss Nevalainen said: "It was not the diving itself, it was when we came up, the current was too strong. It was very, very bad currents."

The group were "spinning around" for up to ten hours - unable to reach any of the islands they could see around them. Eventually they decided to conserve energy and tied themselves together by their dive vests.

Ernest Lewandowski, 53, who runs the Reefseekers with his wife, Ms Mitchinson, said: "They stayed afloat in the surf and kept together as a group. They grabbed hold of flotsam and jetsam and kept hold of that in huge waves out in the Indian Ocean, which were crashing over their heads.

"They were in dangerous open ocean, the next stop to Antarctica."

Having drifted up to 25 miles, and as darkness fell, they saw another island and despite exhaustion and severe cramps, made one last effort to reach land, finally making to Rinca Island at midnight.

"We didn't know where we were," Miss Nevalainen said.

Despite the relief, and a temporary celebration at finding a beautiful white sand beach, they also quickly realised they were not alone on the remote island.

Increasingly exhausted, dehydrated, sun-burnt and hungry, the group fought off Komodo dragons during two sleepless nights on Rinca, surviving on nothing more than raw shellfish they had scraped off rocks.

After a huge search involving the Indonesian navy and dozens of local fishermen, a rescue boat spotted the missing divers' inflated orange and red 'safety sausages' – brightly coloured flotation devices designed to attract the attention of rescuers, which had been laid out in the shape of a cross on the rocks.

They were put on drips to help rehydrate, and after being released from hospital they celebrated their survival with a party at the Paradise Bar in Labuhan Bajo.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...to-survive.html

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[Amby 490]

unlucky...shoulda killed one of those komodos and had some dinner

[eric&gen 0]

What is 'safety sausages' ?

[Nagishkaw 510]

I read this story last week.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

These adventure holidays are not for the faint hearted!

[gabby4ever 1]