Terrifying moment lion trainer attack during circus show

It was the terrifying moment when a lion attacked a circus trainer in front of an audience of children and parents.

The crowd shouted in fear as Hamada Kuta was overwhelmed by the fat cat who stuck his teeth in his arm and scratched him.

The attack took place in the middle of a circus show in Lugansk, a rebel-controlled town in eastern Ukraine.

Kuta – from Egypt, who worked in Russian circuses for many years – fought the lion who later withdrew.

A mother who was watching with her two children said: "My heart stopped when the lion was thrown on the coach."

After receiving medical treatment, Kouta said, "The lion jumped on me and bit me, but thank God, not on my neck.

"My back, my arm and my leg were injured. Scars from two claws and a tooth are on my leg, teeth marks on my arm, one 4 cm deep from three claws on my back. "

The coach said his lion troop was in disarray because it was supposed to happen soon after he arrived at a new location.

"They did not have time to adapt because we arrived and immediately started playing," he said.

"They were stressed, so that led to an attack."

Traveling circuses have recently been banned in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, but Lugansk is not yet in power.