Gerard Butler 'escapes death after serious surfing accident'

Actor rushed to hospital after being trapped underwater while filming movie

Gerard Butler was rushed to hospital after escaping death during a surfing stunt while filming scenes for his new movie.

The actor cheated death after being pinned underwater by powerful waves at the notoriously dangerous surfing spot Maverick's, south of San Francisco, it was reported yesterday.

Butler was shooting scenes for his upcoming movie, Men of Mavericks, when he was thrown off his surfboard and hit by a succession of 12-foot high waves.

Rescuers dragged him from the water onto a jet ski and then brought him to the shore where an ambulance rushed him to hospital.

He was detained overnight but his representatives are yet to comment on his condition.

Butler plays the role of champion surfer Rick 'Frosty' Henson in the Men of Mavericks movie, which tells the tragic tale of young surfer Jay Moiarty.

The accident happened at the exact spot where almost eight months ago 35-year-old Hawaiian surfer Sion Milosky died in a near identical accident.

Eye witness surfer Frank Quirarte told the Daily Mirror: 'Butler was held down for a solid two-waves and took four or five more waves on the head.

'He was then washed through the rocks on the inside before he was finally able to be plucked out.

'Even on small days the inside at Maverick’s can push 10ft plus and really tear you up.

'When they brought Butler in he had that 100-yard stare that surfers get after a two-wave hold [down] or near death experience.'

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