A brave sea turtle escaped the jaws of defeat multiple times as it managed to leave the grip of a hungry tiger shark before fleeing to safety.

Daryll Rivett, 62, was diving off Cristo Rei beach, Timor-Leste, on November 1 when he spotted a four-metre-long tiger shark chasing a green sea turtle.

Incredible up-close footage shows the predator desperately grasp at its evasive prey using its sharp teeth, managing to catch it on a few occasions.

However, thanks to the turtle’s tactics of keeping its shell to the shark’s mouth, it wasn't swallowed and eventually managed to break free at the surface and swim away.

Daryll said: “I have been on more than 650 dives over the last 10 years and have never seen anything like this before. I imagine I’ll never see anything like it again.

“I noticed something thrashing in the water about 50 metres from the boat. Initially I thought it was a dolphin fin.

“Within seconds we saw a turtle at the surface followed by the flick of a large caudal fin and the guide yelled ‘tiger shark’.

“Within 30 seconds our group had donned our fins and masks and slowly entered the water in a tight group.

“We slowly swam towards the action and got within two metres.

“We did wonder why the shark didn’t just bite into the turtle to kill its prey. However, we believe it was trying to drown it before making the fatal bite.

“Also, the turtle had a survival method where it continually turned its shell 90 degrees, which made a larger surface area to restrict the sharks opportunity to bite down.

“As the turtle swam away I thought that, as the shark was unsuccessful in drowning the turtle and losing its feed, we were in a very vulnerable situation.

“As a group we all linked arms, kept a vigilant look in the water around us and below and slowly made our way back to the safety of the boat.”