French Polynesia - His carelessness almost cost him his leg! A spearfisherman was attacked by a shark in the South Pacific - almost 500 kilometers from the nearest hospital.

Photographer and pearl grower Josh Humbert shared his amazing story on Instagram at the end of November. "Well, it finally happened," Humbert said ironically in the video. He reported the attack in the sea off the Tuamotu archipelago while he was fishing with a spear.

While diving, he tried to pick up one of the fish, but didn't catch it properly and had to start again - "that's when I got cocky", said Humbert. The experienced fisherman was apparently not paying attention to his surroundings on his way back to the surface.

At that moment, a shark came out of nowhere and bit into Humbert's left leg. "If I had been able to see it beforehand, I would have reduced the chance of a bite to almost zero," says Humbert.

By his own account, the fisherman was almost 300 miles (around 483 kilometers) from the nearest hospital at the time. He had to be flown to hospital by helicopter.

"I no longer have any feeling in my foot and can no longer lift it, which indicates the peroneal nerve(common fibular nerve, editor's note), as I was told," the injured spear fisherman said in a post published afterwards. He later said that his pain, lack of sleep, grief and fear were paralyzing him.

Yesterday, Friday (local time), he gave a further update on his state of health: despite progressive healing, he is still mainly struggling with nerve pain.

He has received numerous wishes for recovery on Instagram. "Big love to you here Josh. We are all praying for you and carrying your healing in our hearts," said one user.

Humbert told Newsweek that he had decided to hunt alone that day, "even though I was with friends because we were hunting in a relatively shallow spot inside the lagoon and not on the outside or ocean side where sharks are more likely to be found."