Woman is dragged underwater and nearly drowned by a SEA TURTLE that clamped its jaws on her buttocks while swimming in the Mediterranean and had to be chased off by lifeguard
- Terrified tourist Lidia Bazarova said: 'I'm not sure if I'll ever get in the sea again'
- Russian pensioner had been holidaying in Mediterranean before surprise attack
- Bazarova, 64, said: 'I was beating about the water with my arms [and] drowning'
- Lidia received horrific bruises for which she needed urgent hospital treatment
A pensioner said she feared for her life after she was ambushed and bitten by a giant sea turtle while on holiday in Turkey.
Lidia Bazarova, 64, was just 10ft from shore when a giant loggerhead turtle that weighs as much as a cow sank its sharp beak into her backside.
The Russian woman, who needed hospital treatment for the terrifying attack at Antalya beach resort Güzeolaba, said: 'I was really close to shore - some 3 or 4 metres - when I just turned onto my back.
'Then something grabbed my backside.


This sea turtle was seen swimming by the beach on the same day. It is not known if it is the same animal
'It was really scary.
'I didn't know what it was that suddenly grabbed me.'
The large turtle tried to drag her under the water, she said.
'I was beating about the water with my arms, I was drowning.
'The creature let me go only to grab me with an even stronger bite.
'I don't know how long it lasted.'
The tourist hugged her daughter Kamila, 37, for comfort as she explained: 'Luckily a rescuer man saw me.

Terrified tourist Lidia Bazarova, 64 (right) told of her ordeal next to daughter Kamila, 37 (left)


Lidia showed her graphic injuries as a result of the attack, which came from an unlikely predator

Lidia bears hand scars of the horror attack as she was holidaying in the Mediterranean
'He rushed to me and started to yell at [the creature].
'I guess it switched attention to the rescuer.'
Freed from the huge sea turtle's grasp she made for the beach in a state of deep shock, and the rescuer then battled the beast eventually scaring it away.
'I raced towards the shore,' said Lidia.
'I don't know how he was, but his arm is broken. I was fighting my pain and my fear.'

Turkish expert Professor Mehmet Gökoğlu said turtles were prone to attack humans who found themselves in their 'living space'
Lidia, from Yekaterinburg, suffered wounds on her buttocks, hip, legs and fingers from the sharp beak and powerful jaw.
She found it hard to sit comfortably after her battle with the sea turtle.
She came to this spot every other day in resort Güzeolaba, she said, but not any more.
'I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get back in the sea,' Lidia told IHA news agency.
The hero rescuer was named as lifeguard Mustafa Sarı, and reports say he was bitten on the shoulder.
The loggerhead sea turtle - called the Caretta Caretta - is carnivorous, and can weigh as much as a dairy cow.
The woman's buttocks were badly bruised, said reports in Antalya.
'We thank the lifeguard,' said Kamila.

Güzeolaba resort in Antalya, western Turkey is a tourist hotspot for visitors from across Europe
'Without him, maybe the result would have been bad.
'There were similar cases before.
'It bit a woman and a man before my mother.
'We want a warning posted about this danger.
'It is terrible that we will no longer go into the sea.'
Turkish expert Professor Mehmet Gökoğlu said turtles were prone to attack humans who were in their 'living space'.
'There are cases of biting in shallow waters,' he said.
A report said there had been 11 separate turtle attacks in the past two weeks.
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