Survivors of world’s deadliest shark attack ‘haunted’ by blood-curdling screams

DAILY STAR

Survivors of the world’s deadliest shark attack have told how they could do nothing but watch as their crew mates were dragged under water and disemboweled in a feeding frenzy that went on for days.

Around 150 men were savagely ripped to pieces in a disaster so terrifying, it inspired the iconic film Jaws. But for those who miraculously survived, they were forever haunted by blood-curdling screams and the fear in the eyes of those resigned to their grim fate of being eaten alive.

It was 1945 when the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine after delivering the components for the first operational atomic device to the island of Tinian. The direct hit split the ship into two and it took just 12 minutes for the giant vessel to sink with 300 men still trapped inside.

Another 879 men went into the water but their fate was arguably worse, as the ship’s frantic SOS calls before it disappeared beneath the ocean’s surface went ignored and no search parties were sent out. The submarine’s attack had ignited a tank on the ship which contained 3,500 gallons of aviation fuel, meaning that for the sailors on board, the blue waters of the Pacific were their only way out.

Many didn’t have time to get life preserving equipment and had to constantly fight to stay afloat. It was so overwhelming that many began to die in each other’s arms. But as chaos ensued, the blue waters were about to turn red as hungry sharks descended on the helpless crew, drawn by the noise, the splashing, and the blood.

What followed was a shark attack so horrifying it was even included in the film Jaws in a scene where shark hunter Quint recounts his own fictional experiences of the incident. But for Sergeant Edgar Harrell that terrifying story rings very true, as he was one of the lucky ones who survived the slaughtering in the biggest attack on humans ever recorded by the predators.