Watch: Surfacing freediver barely avoids getting hit by a boat

A freediver in Australia was inches away from being hit multiple times by a passing outrigger canoe as he surfaced from a deep dive.

His diving partner, who caught the encounter on video, thought he was going to be knocked out.

The incident occurred in the Gold Coast Seaway in Queensland last month but was posted by ViralHog on Friday.

“Coming up to the surface from our free dive, my dive partner nearly has his head and body smashed into multiple times by an outrigger canoe,” the description of the video stated. “Once by the hull of the boat, then from the oars of the boat, and then by the canoe’s stabilizing rig.

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“It was so close I thought my dive partner was going to be knocked out and I started to swim towards him, which turns the GoPro away from the scene for a brief second, as I thought I was about to need to rescue him from injuries that I thought he was going to sustain from the boat hitting him.”

Fortunately, the diver managed to dodge the passing boat with its six rowers.