Italian student Matteo Mariotti has shared the moment he suffered a savage shark attack in Australia, which left him needing half of his leg amputating.
Matteo, originally from Parma in Italy, was enjoying snorkelling at 1770 Beach in Queensland last December, when he was brutally attacked by the creature.
The 20-year-old was swimming just off the coast when he encountered the 'monster' - which instantly began to attack him.
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Believing this was his 'final moments', Matteo pulled out his camera and began filming the terrifying ordeal in a video shared to his Instagram account.
After suffering numerous bites to the leg, Matteo was swimming in a pool of his own blood and lost half of his right leg.
“I beg you to help me,” the student can be heard crying in the video, begging his friend to help pull him back to shore.
Thanks to his snorkelling fin getting caught in the shark's mouth, Matteo's friend was able to safely pull him out of the water - with the marine biology student convinced that he would've otherwise been killed.
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"I started this video a few moments after the last bite, I wanted to say goodbye, I never thought I’d survive that monster," Matteo explained in his Instagram video.
Matteo was later taken to a hospital in Brisbane, where he was able to recover from his injuries.
Martin Kelly, a senior operations supervisor with the Queensland Ambulance Service, later told NBC News that Matteo was fortunate to be alive after sustaining such a brutal attack.
"When you get this type of injury that severe, often people do pass away," he said.
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"There are places you just need to be careful [as] you’re in their environment and you need to respect this fact."
Following the devastating ordeal, Matteo's friend Rachele Gorreri organised a GoFundMe page to help cover any medical insurance bills.
“The deep wounds he suffered irreparably led to the amputation of his leg, below the knee," the fundraiser said, per a translation.
"Matteo will need support and very expensive medical care to get back to living his best life as a twenty-year-old, and we are determined to do our utmost to help him.
"This is why we ask all of you, in your own small way, to help us raise as much money as possible to give the best possible solution to this boy.
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“The collection is in favour of Giovanna Mariotti, Matteo's paternal aunt, who is currently joining him in Australia together with his father Michele Mariotti.”
At the time of writing (14 May) the fundraiser has €72,710 of its initial €100,000 target as donations were frozen on on 13 December after Matteo's family flew out to Australia.
"We have now suspended donations until we know with certainty what the insurance he had taken out in Italy will cover and what the actual health needs are," the update read.
"We thank once again all the donors who supported the genuine and immediate initiative of the children of Matteo's native town, with the desire to be able to resume the collection as soon as possible, lawfully allowing anyone who wants to help us in our goal to be able to do so."
Topics: Australia, Shark Attacks, Sharks
Brenna Cooper