WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT. A mermaid animator performing at an aquarium in China was seen suddenly being attacked in the water by a giant fish which got its jaws around her head as spectators looked on
China: Mermaid actor attacked by giant fish in front of spectators
Horrific footage shows the moment a woman swimming in an aquarium was suddenly attacked by a fish which attempted to lock its jaws around her head.
Spectators were looking on when suddenly the mermaid animator was attacked by the giant fish. It opened its jaws around the Russian performer’s face but luckily she was able to break free and swim to the surface.
People watching on screamed in horror as the woman got into difficulty although she did quickly manage to get away from the fish. The giant creature did though eat 22-year-old performer Masha’s goggles and nose clips, and wounded her head, neck and eye, according to reports.
The incident was in Xishuangbanna, China, where the Russian woman works. Reports in the Russian media say the woman was forced back into the aquarium despite being in agony from a neck wound.
She was offered some £78 in “moral damages” after the attack but was barred from talking about it as her bosses at Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park tried to “cover up” the incident. The freshwater aquarium boasts native species from the Mekong and Yangtze Rivers, as well as other rare amphibians. Reports do not specify the type of fish which attacked.
In March last year 15 people were injured when they were attacked by piranhas as they bathed in a river in Brazil. Firefighters had to take at least four people to the local hospital with the others able to go to A&E on their own on the same day.
The victims suffered bites to their feet by the sharp-toothed fish. They were attacked as they cooled off in the Tietê River off Pôr-do-Sol Beach in Pereira Barreto. A snap shows how one victim received a nasty bite to the sole with blood seen pouring from the open wound.
Local officials have since sent biology experts to the scene and they’ve concluded illegal fishing along with discarded food had influenced the mass attacks which have happened during the spawning season. Authorities have put up signs warning people against swimming at the beach.
The piranhas which have been attacking people off Pôr-do-Sol Beach have a bite force about 30 times their body weight, according to local experts. Piranhas, with their strong jaws and finely serrated teeth, have one of the strongest bites found in bony fishes.
