Shark Bites Tourist Diver Off Maldives [VIDEO]

A shark bit a female snorkeler in the waters off the Maldives, as seen in a video that went viral three months later.

It was initially reported on Friday, April 14.

The shark attack left minor injuries on the tourist diver, who was on vacation in the island nation at that time.

The said shark encounter is believed to be unprovoked based on the viral video.

Maldives Shark Attack

(Photo : GREGORY BOISSY/AFP via Getty Images)
A picture taken on December 3, 2015 shows a diver approching blacktip reef sharks in the lagoon of the island of Bora Bora. - Overexploitation threatens the survival of the shark. The renewal of its population is very slow. The human sample would have led to a decrease of 80 percent of the species over the last decade, 90 percent since the fifties.

The YouTube channel The Independent on Friday posted the said video with a caption "moment snorkeler bitten by 220lb shark off Maldives coast," which reported that the shark plunged its teeth into the bikini-clad snorkeler and left a wound on her side.

In the 33-second clip, it can be seen at the start that the diver was showing her wound with deep lacerations on her flesh.

Prior to getting bitten, the video transitioned to the woman swimming underwater when a nearby shark suddenly turned and attacked her.

Also Read: Shark Attack in the Florida Keys Leaves 10-Year-Old Boy to Lose a Part of His Leg

Shark Attack Viral Video

The video was taken by Ibrahim Shafeeg during a free dive trip at Vaavu Atoll, where the free diver name Carmen Canovas Cervello decided to snorkel, according to Ohio-based WFIN Local News.

The video only went viral in recent days after being originally shot earlier this year.

The incident involved the duo who were in the water for 45 minutes with no sign of danger.

However, while a "nurse shark" was encircling Cervello, the sea creature bit her left shoulder and left a six-inch-wide mark.

Shafeeg, who has a social media name of "The Shark Guy," first posted the video on his Instagram account to let his followers know about potential accidents while swimming with sharks.

He recommended not to feed nurse sharks while swimming with them, even during a free dive, the Ohio local news outlet cited.

Are Nurse Sharks Dangerous?

In general, nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) are not aggressive and typically swim away when approached by humans.

However, there are reported incidents in the past of the said marine animals attacking swimmers and divers.

If disturbed, the G. cirratum can bite with a powerful force and inflict serious wounds, according to the Florida Museum.

The museum reported that the number of shark bites involving nurse sharks have increased in recent years as a result of ecotourism.

In addition, the IUCN designated nurse sharks as "deficient," meaning they are not an endangered species but its abundance in the coastal waters of Florida has significantly decreased in the past several decades.

In the Maldives, reports in the past have mentioned that shark attacks is "non-existent" or "zero."

However, the latest attack in the island country only proves that even sharks aside from great white, bull, and tiger sharks are dangerous.

According to the local tourism website Samudra Maldives, majority of sharks near Maldives and the incidents of shark attacks are considered rare.

However, encounters with tiger sharks and nurse sharks in Maldives can turn deadly.

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