In what seems like a scene straight out of a horror movie, a 41-year-old Australian diver miraculously escaped the jaws of a great white shark off the southern coast of Sydney.

Eric Nerhus was diving for the shellfish abalone off of Cape Howe when a 10-ft-long great white shark attacked him, crushing through his face mask, and breaking his nose, before Nerhus managed to pry free from the shark's grip.

Nerhus, who was wearing a heavy lead weight vest to search for abalone deep on the ocean floor, said the shark grabbed him by his head and clamped down, his teeth mashing through Nerhus' protective gear.

In a miraculous act of survival, Nerhus managed to stab the shark in his eyes and snout with the iron chisel he used to pry off abalone from rocks, and free himself from the shark's grip.

After the shark loosened its grip, Nerhus managed to swim to back to the surface and was hoisted back into his boat by his son, Mark.

"He came up to the surface and he was going 'Oh! Help, help! There's a shark, there's a shark!' and I went over there and there was a big pool of red blood and I pulled him out of the water," Mark said.

Eric Nerhus was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he was reportedly in serious but stable condition.