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A sailor has survived a ten-mile swim in shark infested waters after falling overboard from his one-man boat in the middle of the night.

John Deer is said to have lost everything he owned after he "misstepped and went overboard" on his 40-foot yacht with a fundraising page now set up to help him.

Deer was almost ten miles from shore as he trod water and watched his yacht sail away from him before eventually sinking, which a fundraiser page says homed all his life's possessions.

Although losing his yacht and possessions, Deer managed to survive a dangerous swim through the shark-infested waters of Colombia after falling overboard.

The yachtsman's friend and man behind the fundraiser, Fou Ruesch, recounted the events and said: "Knowing he would die if he started panicking he swam towards shore. It was 5pm when it happened so it was getting dark too."

Deer also found himself in a pocket of water known as "shark corner" due to its large collection of predatory fish.

Ruesch added that Deer, who says he "couldn't tell how long he was swimming," cannot remember reaching safety.

The fundraising friend said that Deer had reached "a pile of rocks and must have passed out after arriving safely but completely exhausted".

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Deer's yacht was smashed and sunk, but a salvage operation is currently underway to see what they can find on the sunken boat, which had sailed away from the yachtsman after he toppled overboard.

When asked of how he felt after losing his possessions in the, Deer said that "things come and go."

The fundraiser, set up by Ruesch, is hoping to salvage the boat so it can retrieve legal documents that Deer will need to return home to his family.

A salvage of the yacht, named Julia, could cost a hefty sum, with Roesch saying the salvage operation could cost "hundreds of thousands," The Mirror reported.

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• Sharks
• Near-death experience

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