Terrifying footage has captured the moment a massive shark clamped its jaws around a diver’s head in a surprise attack off a paradise island.
The clip, filmed in the idyllic Maldives, shows a swimmer innocently drifting in the blue waters while facing the camera.
But out of nowhere, and with shocking speed, the shadowy figure of an enormous shark appears behind the diver.
In a heart-stopping moment, the sneaky shark swiftly opens its jaws before engulfing the diver’s head.
For a few seconds, the swimmer’s head remains in the mouth of the predator as it shakes the sea explorer around in an attempt to gnaw off their head.
The diver can be seen kicking their feet and spreading their arms, desperately trying to flee the hungry shark.
Miraculously, the swimmer made a lucky escape as the beastly fish unlocked its jaws and swam away, freeing the diver of the chilling attack.
The diver then scrambled away to the surface of the water, waving their hands at the brave cameraman in a warning for them to flee the scene too.
Terrifying footage captured the moment a diver was approach by a shark while swimming in the Maldives
The shark can be seen clamping down its jaws around the diver’s head
The swimmer tried frantically to flee the jaws of the beast by kicking their feet and waving their arms
The heart-stopping footage saw the diver’s head completely engulfed in the shark’s mouth
The diver made a miraculously lucky escape as the shark swam off
Both swimmers could be seen quickly working their way up and out of the dangerous waters, until the hair-raising footage ends.
The Maldives is known for its white sandy beaches, turquoise lagoons and coral reefs, but it is also home to around 30 types of shark, according to Samudra Maldives.
These include scalloped hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks, whale sharks, and grey reef sharks – it is not immediately clear which species of shark appeared in the footage.
Many hotels and resorts on the island offer guests the swimming with sharks experience as a guided activity.
‘Most sharks near Maldives are friendly, and incidents of shark attacks are rare. But encounters with Maldives tiger sharks and nurse sharks might turn deadly if precautions aren’t taken,’ the holiday website explains.
Diving and snorkelling with the animals is also a popular activity among tourists, but ‘not all friendly sharks swim near the surface, so you’ll need to book an experience allowing you to dive in the sea, and explore sharks like grey reef sharks or whitetip reef shark’.
It comes after a surfer’s leg was completely severed during a vicious shark attack in the waters of Hawaii earlier this month.
Kenji Nonoka, 61, was surfing off Waiehu Beach Park in Maui but as he sat on his board in the clear waters around 7am, a shark swam up and bit his leg – severing it from the knee down.
The surfer, who was still alert after the attack, was able to swim back to shore with the help of others before the Maui Police Department responded to the scene.
But immediately after his surgery, he was said to have told his loved ones, ‘I still love the ocean!’ according to his GoFundMe page.
In September, a woman died after being attacked by a shark on a British-flagged catamaran as she was rushed to a hospital in the Canary Islands.
She was said to have had her leg bitten off by the animal as she was on a catamaran in international waters.
And in August, a teenager was decapitated in a horror shark attack after he went swimming off the Jamaican coast.
Jahmari Reid’s body was reportedly found with his head missing and his left arm bitten off.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
