Swordfish spears diver's oxygen tank

A diver has come within inches of death after a swordfish launched an unprovoked attack on him but speared his breathing equipment instead of his body.

Footage shot by a fellow diver showed the man walking along the ocean floor in darkness, except for the light of a torch.

The swordfish then suddenly emerged out of the darkness and speared the driver’s oxygen equipment.

Impaled in the oxygen tank, the fish then thrashed desperately around, trying to free itself.

With the fish still lodged, the diver climbed up a guide rope back towards his boat.

The footage has been viewed more than a million times since it was posted online last week.

It is believed to have been filmed off Brazil’s south coast.