A Russian mermaid performer, who went viral after a fish within the aquarium tank she was swimming in attacked her, is talking out after the scary incident.
It was Tuesday, Jan. 28 when 22-year-old Mariia Zelenina, who performs below the title “Masha,” was featured in an aquatic present in China’s Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park — a job she’d loved for the previous 10 months.
courtesy Mariia Zelenina
Picture from Mariia Zelenina
Whereas floating underwater earlier than cheerful kids and different park company, issues rapidly took a flip when one of many bigger fish out of the blue inhaled her head.
Zelenina tells PEOPLE she was with one other mermaid performer simply moments earlier than the incident.
“We had a present,” she remembers. “I did the primary solo, one other lady was ready for me to do my solo. I nearly completed it and was imagined to floor, however a fish pounced on me.”
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In keeping with the swimmer, the fish accountable was a Chinese language sturgeon.
The Critically Endangered freshwater fish is discovered within the Yangtze River, in addition to marine waters off the coast of China, per the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). They will attain as much as 16 ft.
“I did not perceive what was occurring, I started to push her away and get out of her mouth. Once I surfaced, I spotted that I did not have glasses,” Zelenina tells PEOPLE.
courtesy Mariia Zelenina
Picture from Mariia Zelenina
Video captured the frightful assault, which confirmed Zelenina pulling herself free. Her goggles got here off through the encounter as terrified onlookers watched in horror from the opposite aspect of the tank’s glass.
“I used to be shocked, I did not really feel something,” she says.
Refuting studies that she was “compelled” to return to work after, Zelenina tells PEOPLE, “I used to be instantly taken to the hospital.”
She added that there was no rush for her to return, and that she could be again as soon as she felt higher.
courtesy Mariia Zelenina
Picture from Mariia Zelenina
“I’m resting now as a result of my eye nonetheless hurts and I can’t come into contact with water,” the Russian swimmer says.
Because the clip went viral on-line, Zelenina says she’s learn many tales that merely aren’t true.
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“Additionally they write that my superiors threatened me, however that is not the case both. In fact, they did not need the entire nation to learn about it, nevertheless it was inevitable,” she tells PEOPLE.
Regardless of the brutal underwater assault that left her with bruises overlaying her face, Zelenina says she’s effective general.
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“It was surprising. In fact, I used to be scared, however numerous issues can occur in life and you must deal with it with humor,” she says. “I really feel good. I keep in mind this example as a joke. I wasn’t afraid of those fish.”
“Foreigners are handled very effectively right here,” she provides of dwelling and dealing in China.
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