<p>A 15-year-old Indian Australian girl - who 'almost died' after being mauled by five lions - has shared her horrific experience at a wildlife park in South Africa to help lift safety standards, days after a US tourist died in a nearly identical attack in Johannesburg.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Neha Sharma, a high school student, was attacked by the animals during her trip to Kudu's Rus Game Lodge and Predator Park outside Johannesburg when the park ranger opened a cage containing five lions.<br /><br />The animals attacked the girl and putting the ranger on the ground and then turning on the terrified girl.<br /><br />The girl said she could hear "lions' teeth crunching" on her head and the desperate screams of her parents as the attack was going on.<br /><br />"She almost died — she had an after-death experience that is how close she came to dying," Raghwa Sharma, father of the girl, was quoted as saying by the local media.<br />"My daughter is still healing — she will probably have to have the rest of the year off school," said Sharma, who is a surgical pathologist in Sydney.<br /><br />The girl survived with injuries to her head, neck, chest, thighs and arms and spent five days in hospital in South Africa after undergoing surgery.<br /><br />The western Sydney family is reliving the trauma of almost losing their daughter in the lion attack in February after a 29-year-old American woman was fatally mauled by a lion this week.<br /><br />"With the American woman it sounds like an accident — a lion jumped through the window of a vehicle but with us it wasn't an accident. We told them someone will die and then I saw the report about the American woman and it was like we were reliving it all over again. We are lucky to be alive," Sharma said.<br /><br />He said his family had no way of knowing they were in danger.<br />"Within one second my daughter was five or six steps ahead with the ranger. The ranger opened the cage with five lions. The ranger was attacked — we thought he was dead and my daughter was attacked," said Sharma.<br /><br />"We were too trusting — it was like being brainwashed, they (the ranger) make you feel comfortable," he added.</p>
<p>A 15-year-old Indian Australian girl - who 'almost died' after being mauled by five lions - has shared her horrific experience at a wildlife park in South Africa to help lift safety standards, days after a US tourist died in a nearly identical attack in Johannesburg.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Neha Sharma, a high school student, was attacked by the animals during her trip to Kudu's Rus Game Lodge and Predator Park outside Johannesburg when the park ranger opened a cage containing five lions.<br /><br />The animals attacked the girl and putting the ranger on the ground and then turning on the terrified girl.<br /><br />The girl said she could hear "lions' teeth crunching" on her head and the desperate screams of her parents as the attack was going on.<br /><br />"She almost died — she had an after-death experience that is how close she came to dying," Raghwa Sharma, father of the girl, was quoted as saying by the local media.<br />"My daughter is still healing — she will probably have to have the rest of the year off school," said Sharma, who is a surgical pathologist in Sydney.<br /><br />The girl survived with injuries to her head, neck, chest, thighs and arms and spent five days in hospital in South Africa after undergoing surgery.<br /><br />The western Sydney family is reliving the trauma of almost losing their daughter in the lion attack in February after a 29-year-old American woman was fatally mauled by a lion this week.<br /><br />"With the American woman it sounds like an accident — a lion jumped through the window of a vehicle but with us it wasn't an accident. We told them someone will die and then I saw the report about the American woman and it was like we were reliving it all over again. We are lucky to be alive," Sharma said.<br /><br />He said his family had no way of knowing they were in danger.<br />"Within one second my daughter was five or six steps ahead with the ranger. The ranger opened the cage with five lions. The ranger was attacked — we thought he was dead and my daughter was attacked," said Sharma.<br /><br />"We were too trusting — it was like being brainwashed, they (the ranger) make you feel comfortable," he added.</p>