Terrifying footage captured the moment a huge 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 floating innocently in the blue waters in front of the camera.
But out of nowhere, and with surprising speed, the shadowy figure of a huge shark appears behind the diver.
In a heart-stopping moment, the cunning shark quickly opens its jaws before sinking the diver’s head.
For a few seconds, the swimmer’s head remains in the predator’s mouth while it shakes the sea explorer in an attempt to nibble its head.
The diver can be seen kicking and spreading his arms, desperately trying to escape the hungry shark.
Miraculously, the swimmer managed to escape with luck when the beastly fish opened its jaws and swam away, freeing the diver from the chilling attack.
The diver then climbed to the surface of the water and waved his hands at the brave cameraman to warn him to flee the scene as well.
Terrifying images captured the moment a shark approached a diver while swimming in the Maldives
The shark can be seen clenching its jaws around the diver’s head.
The swimmer frantically tried to escape the jaws of the beast, kicking and waving his arms.
The heart attack images showed the diver’s head completely submerged in the shark’s mouth.
The diver miraculously managed to escape while the shark swam away.
Both swimmers could be seen quickly making their way up and out of the dangerous waters, until the eerie footage ends.
The Maldives is known for its white sand beaches, turquoise lagoons and coral reefs, but it is also home to around 30 types of sharks, according to Samudra Maldives.
These include hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks, whale sharks and gray reef sharks; It is not immediately clear which species of sharks appeared in the images.
Many hotels and resorts on the island offer their guests the experience of swimming with sharks as a guided activity.
‘Most sharks near the Maldives are friendly and incidents of shark attacks are rare. But encounters with Maldivian tiger sharks and nurse sharks can prove deadly if precautions are not taken,” the holiday website explains.
Diving and snorkeling with the animals is also a popular activity with tourists, but “not all friendly sharks swim near the surface, so you’ll need to book an experience that allows you to dive into the sea and explore sharks like the shark gray reef or whitetip reef shark”.
It comes after a surfer’s leg was completely severed during a vicious shark attack in the waters off Hawaii earlier this month.
Kenji Nonoka, 61, was surfing at Waiehu Beach Park on Maui, but while he was sitting on his board in the crystal clear water around 7 a.m., 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 is said to have told his loved ones, “I still love the ocean!” according to their GoFundMe page.
In September, a woman died after being attacked by a shark on a British-flagged catamaran while being rushed to a hospital in the Canary Islands.
The animal is said to have bitten his leg while he was on a catamaran in international waters.
And in August, a teenager was decapitated in a horrific shark attack after swimming off the coast of Jamaica.
Jahmari Reid’s body was reportedly found headless and with her left arm bitten off.