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- A man searching for shark teeth was attacked by an alligator while diving in a Florida river, reports say.
- Jeffrey Heim was diving in the Myakka River when an alligator bit his head.
- Heim suffered injuries, including a fractured skull.
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A man searching for shark fossils in a Florida river was attacked by an alligator but survived to tell the frightening story, according to reports.
Jeffrey Heim was diving in the Myakka River looking for prehistoric shark teeth when he encountered the alligator that bit him in the head last Sunday, FOX 13 reported.
"I get bit and pulled and what felt like a boat hitting me with its full force," Heim told Bay News 9. "I thought I was going to die right there."
Photos posted on Twitter by WFTS-TV's Ryan Smith show Heim laying in the hospital following the attack. According to WFTS-TV, he suffered injuries including a skull fracture, and received 34 staples as a result of the incident.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, mating season for alligators commence in May or June.
-Ryan Smith (@RyanReports) June 1, 2021
Heim said he was happy he survived such a scary experience.
"I've never cried so much in my life," Heim told WFTS-TV. "And not from the pain, just from the realization of what I've gone through and how I was literally an inch away from death."
Heim spends his time collecting the shark fossils to create jewelry pieces for his business with some of the profits donated to a wildlife non-profit, according to WFTS-TV and his Instagram page.