A dad-of-two has told how he was left fighting for life after being sucked into a boat propeller on a dream diving holiday in Egypt.Maurice Abrahams suffered horrific injuries in the accident – and only avoided decapation because the blades were blocked by his oxygen tank.
The 48-year-old was trapped under the propeller for an agonising 30 seconds as the water around him filled with blood. Reliving the terrifying ordeal, he told the the M.E.N.: “It felt like a lifetime.
“The pain was indescribable and I thought I was definitely going to die. My mask was ripped off and I was actually screaming under the water.”
Maurice was rushed to hospital after losing huge amounts of blood from cuts to his legs and broken bones, including his hip and pelvis.
Doctors had to appeal for blood from the other guests at the hotel where he was was staying in the resort of El Gouna to save him.
He spent three days fighting for life and spent weeks in hospital before finally being allowed home.
HIs broken bones have been pieced back together with metal pins but he faces months of physiotherapy to help him learn to walk again and is still in constant pain.
Maurice – who lives with wife Rochelle and children Jake, 17, and Chelsey, 14 in Chadderton Drive, Whitefield - had been on an annual trip with friends from the Red Fins diving group.
The pals, all experienced divers, were on the second day of a holiday and had chartered a boat to explore a coral reef.
A second boat, carrying divers and sunbathers, arrived in the area as Maurice and his friends were heading back to the surface. Maurice, who works as a hairdresser, was just below the surface when the second boat started its propeller.
He was sucked backwards into the blades which hit his metal tank just inches from his unprotected neck. They then sheared through his botton and legs.
Maurice said: “I had no idea what was happening before I hit the propeller. I saw the blood in the water and that's when I though it was all over. God knows how it missed my head – my tank got hit just a few inches from my neck.”
Maurice's pals were able to keep him conscious as they rushed back to shore.
He was treated in hospital before being flown back to England, when he had five weeks' further treatment at North Manchester General.
Maurice said: “The doctors said they had never seen a hip injury like it. Most people are killed in propeller accidents – I'm so lucky to be alive. I'm now basically held together with pins and screws. I want to thank my wife – I couldn't have got through this without her.”
