Diver pinned under water by an alligator figured he had choice: Lose his arm or lose his life

Will Georgitis was in a scary situation when he got trapped by an alligator while diving in the Cooper River in South Carolina. He thought his only way to survive might be to let the alligator take his arm.

The alligator had clamped its jaws around Georgitis' arm, and even when he tried to get away by poking it with his screwdriver, the gator shook him and dragged him down the river, Georgitis said.

“I thought I was going to die right then and there,” he said.

This happened on April 15 when Georgitis was coming up from his dive, running out of air. The alligator bit down hard on his arm, and Georgitis realized he had to act fast.

“I pushed my feet against the alligator and pushed back as hard as I could and somehow pulled my arm out without it coming off,” Georgitis told ABC's Good Morning America.

He swam quickly to a friend's boat and went to the hospital. His arm was broken and needed lots of staples to close the wounds from the alligator's teeth.

He will probably need several surgeries and six months to recover. His family has started a GoFundMe page to help pay for his medical bills.

“Every moment from now on is a blessing,” Georgitis said to Good Morning America.

Georgitis often dives to find shark teeth and fossils in the Charleston waters. He's been to the spot where the alligator attacked him many times, and although he's seen alligators before, they usually keep their distance.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is looking into the attack. There are about 100,000 alligators in South Carolina, and they're protected by strict rules about when they can be moved or killed.

Attacks by alligators are rare and mostly happen on land when they go after pets or someone falls into a pond.

Since 2016, South Carolina has had at least six deadly alligator attacks.

In 2007, a big alligator attacked a snorkeler in Lake Moultire, tearing off the person's arm. They managed to get help from five nurses at a picnic until paramedics came.