Shark Attack Survivor Says 9-Foot Bull Shark Bite Was Like Being 'Hit by a Freight Train': 'I Could See My Bones'

• Dave Pearson is recalling the moment an almost 10-foot bull shark took a huge chunk out of his left arm while he was out surfing in Australia in 2011
• “I just got hit by something. It was like being hit by a freight train,” he said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Conversations interview program
• “The top teeth just proceeded to tear the forearm muscle straight off the bone,” he said, admitting he thought he was going to die

A man is opening up about the moment he thought he was going to die after being bitten by an almost 10-foot bull shark while surfing in Australia.

Dave Pearson lost a huge chunk of his left arm after being attacked by the animal as he headed out into the waves with friends on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales in 2011.

In a new interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Conversations interview program, Pearson recalled, “I was in the rip, padding back out — as you do as a surfer — watching the next set of waves coming through.”

“And then the next thing, I just got hit by something. It was like being hit by a freight train,” he added, per the outlet.

The shark attack survivor continued that the shark’s “top jaw” was “wide open” and “its snout hit me in the right temple, which knocked me out and hurt my neck and back in the process.”

He said that because he was paddling, his “left arm was going forward and ended up between the top jaw and the surfboard,” adding, “My thumb had gone into its mouth, but the rest of my hand had gone on the outside so it didn’t swallow my arm, luckily.”

“The top teeth just proceeded to tear the forearm muscle straight off the bone, and the teeth took some tendons in my wrist and thumb and damaged that as well,” Pearson told the program.

Pearson — who has since started a private Facebook group called Bite Club to connect with fellow victims of shark attacks — managed to climb back onto his surfboard after the attack, but realized his arm had been “torn open” and blood was “going everywhere.”

He continued to struggle while getting caught in the waves, telling the program, “I knew I’d run out of air and that I was about to pass out and that I was just about to die and I went, ‘Wow, today’s the day I die.’ ”

“It was a tough realization, that I actually knew the moment of my life ending,” Pearson shared. “And then I thought, ‘No, not today. You can’t die.’ ”

He managed to get back to the surface and got out of the ocean with the help of two men, before his friends jumped into action and tried to save his life by attempting to stop the blood.

Adding that he “lost 40 percent of my blood” in the 10 minutes that it took him to get out of the surf, Pearson said, per the outlet, “There was blood going everywhere, and I could see my bones and I’m going, ‘This isn’t good,’ but I had no pain at all for a good 15 minutes.”

Despite initially being told his bone had been damaged and his arm would probably need to be amputated, doctors managed to save it.

Pearson’s latest comments come after he told BBC Trending in 2016 that he would deal with “nightmares” and would wake up “screaming” following the attack.

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“There were many sleepless nights,” he told the outlet. He set up his Bite Club group in 2013, which had 509 members, as of Friday, Feb. 21.

“We have found in our own experiences that we can help each other through the hard times,” a description on the page reads.

“We are also willing to share information with all people who are interested in the devastating effect an attack can create and the inspiring stories of survivors who have overcome the adversary of an attack and have become inspirational to those who know them,” it adds.

“The core purpose of Bite Club is to assist those affected by shark attacks in returning to a ‘new normal’ life, and to support and assist them throughout the journey,” the message continues.

PEOPLE has reached out to Pearson for additional comments.