Last updated at 17:53 17 September 2007

A snorkeller whose arm was bitten off and swallowed by a monster alligator underwent a major operation to re-attach it after the beast was shot and the arm found in its belly.

The 12-foot long alligator attacked 59-year-old Bill Heddon and chewed off his arm as he snorkelled on a lake.

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Witnesses raised the alarm and emergency services and officers from the Department of Natural Resource rushed to Lake Moultrie near Charleston, South Carolina.

As medics treated the injured man, officers shot the alligator. When they slit open the alligator's stomach they discovered the limb has been swallowed whole.

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A group of Filipinos gathering for a nearby religious ceremony offered a box of ice and a cooler for the severed arm and the man and his limb were rushed to hospital.

Doctors are waiting to see whether the operation to re-attach the arm has been successful.