Phil Harding, 51, a former Derbyshire police officer was lucky to escape with his life when one of his colleagues was eaten by a shark just off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
Phil was training foreign detectives in the Caribbean when their fishing boat began to take on water. Not long afterwards the boat capsized and Phil and his three colleagues were left clinging to the boat’s hull.
Four times during the 30 hours he waited to be rescued Phil was washed off the boat into the shark-infested waters before he was hauled on board a Cuban tug boat.
Two of his colleagues who swam off to get help were not so lucky, one being killed by a shark and the other still missing.
Phil was later treated for sunburn and dehydration.
Only 20 people have been killed by sharks in the area in the last 400 years.
