Terrible moment: Shark sneaks up on diver and rams him in underwater attack
HORROR footage has been released showing the moment a shark sneaks up on a diver during an underwater attack.
48-year-old spearfisherman Paul Dabill was swimming off the coast of Jupiter, Florida, and caught a snapper before realizing he’d crossed a hungry shark.
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“I had just caught a snapper and wanted to retrieve the fish,” he said Mirror.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but a shark was watching me, and as soon as I shot the fish, it decided to hunt it too.”
The diver continued that the shark swam under him and rammed his body before swimming away.
“He was swimming from behind and under me, so I didn’t see the shark until it collided with me,” he explained.
“It was very shocking, to say the least!”
Dabill, who also works as a photographer, noted that he narrowly avoided trouble because sharks are always present in the waters of southeast Florida.
“Wherever we spearfish in Southeast Florida, there are always sharks around. You always have to be aware of their presence,” he warned.
According to the diver, his situation was also the most dangerous, since sharks are often in search of speared fish.
“The most risky time is when a fish is speared – that’s when the sharks are after it,” he said.
“Extreme care must be taken when reeling in the fish and it should be removed from the water as soon as possible.”
After the shark rammed him, Dabill explained that he swam in the opposite direction and resurfaced while the shark turned him away.
“As soon as we collided, I swam to the surface and the shark swam in a different direction,” the spearfisher noted.
Dabill also believes it was a nurse shark that swam towards him, which is also one of the reasons he wasn’t bitten.
“In general, they’re not a dangerous species,” he said.
“However, they have been known to steal fish from spearfishers and lobster-collecting divers.”
He added, “If your hand gets in the way of the shark trying to eat something, a bite may result.”
Still, nurse sharks were ranked as the fourth most common type of shark attack on humans, according to the Mirror in a 2016 study.
As reported by The US Sun, over 1,219 shark attacks have been recorded in the last 47 years.
According to the statistics collected, Florida is the most common place where a shark is attacked in the United States FloridaPanhandle.com.
Dabill’s narrow escape came after several horrific shark attacks around the world this year.
For more related content, check out The US Sun’s coverage of the chilling reason why sharks are currently roaming the coast of Egypt and killing three people last year.
The US Sun also has the story of how missing teenager Cameron Robbins’ family have been desperate for answers after he jumped into shark-infested waters in the Bahamas last month.