In the Maldives, a snorkeler was left with a gruesome six-inch wound on her side after a 220-pound shark bit her, in a startling moment.
While diving in the idyllic island nation of Vaavu Atoll, Carmen Canovas Cervello, 30, was with a friend when an eight-foot-long nurse shark attacked her by lunging and biting her side with its jaws.
The video captures the moment when the creature swam around the tourist, who was wearing a bikini, and then unexpectedly changed its direction to launch an attack on her.
Surprisingly, the woman chose to go for a second swim right after she tended to the injury caused by the irritated nurse shark.
Cervello and her friend, Ibrahim Shafeeg, 37, an underwater photographer who recorded the incredible video, had been swimming alongside the group of sharks for more than 45 minutes before the unfortunate incident occurred.
The disturbing video depicted a moment where one of the sharks believed that Cervello and her friend were invading its territory and demonstrated its authority by biting down on her shoulder and upper back with its teeth.
Although it was a fleeting moment, the persistent animal left a substantial circular wound of approximately six inches in diameter on the diver's body.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Shafeeg captured the alarming attack on his GoPro camera while he was filming the sharks around him.
Following the aggressive behavior of the shark, both Mr. Shafeeg and Ms. Cervello quickly got out of the water to assess the injury caused by the bite from the hostile animal on her shoulder and back.
After leaving the water near the Dhiggiri resort in Vaavu Atoll, they cleaned the wound and evaluated its severity.
Although they were attacked, the adventurous pair considered the shark's bite as a cautionary signal for getting too near, since they believed that the injury was minor and could have been much worse.
Remarkably, within a few seconds, the undeterred duo made the decision to plunge back into the water teeming with sharks to continue their diving adventure.
Remarkably, within a few seconds, the undeterred duo made the decision to plunge back into the water teeming with sharks to continue their diving adventure.
The Vaavu Atoll area in the Maldives is a popular spot for nurse sharks, as they often seek food from the various tourist attractions in the region.
Normally, nurse sharks are docile creatures that tend to swim away when they feel threatened. However, if provoked in any way, their bite can be deadly because of their exceptionally sharp teeth and powerful jaw.
Prior to 2022, reports indicated that there had been approximately 51 provoked attacks and five unprovoked attacks by nurse sharks.
Although this was Cervello's initial experience of being bitten by a shark, it did not deter the duo from diving once again into the hazardous waters to enjoy the thrill of being intimately close to the sharks in their natural habitat.
We were in the shark bay at Vaavu Atoll diving with nurse sharks,' Shafeeg said.
"We decided to do a free dive trip to shark bay and snorkel inside a group of sharks there."
"There were around ten nurse sharks, from 198 pounds to 220 pounds, and over three meters wide."
"After the shark bite, we thought nothing major about it as it was only a minor injury so we cleaned the wound and continued snorkeling at the same spot again."
