Heart-stopping moment shark rears up to take a chunk out of kayak
This is the heartbreaking moment when a shark launched itself out of the sea and tried to grab a piece from a fisherman’s kayak.
Footage shows fisherman Scott Haraguchi sailing off the coast of the Hawaiian island of O’ahu when the large tiger shark collided with his kayak.
The shark gritted its sharp teeth and launched at the kayak with such speed that Haraguchi described the sound as a “boat coming at me with no motor.”
Amazingly, Haraguchi managed to kick the shark away from him after the lightning attack.
In the footage, Haraguchi, who was carrying a GoPro camera, can be heard yelling and screaming “Tiger shark rammed me.”
Footage shows fisherman Scott Haraguchi sailing off the coast of the Hawaiian island of O’ahu when the big tiger shark collided with his kayak
Amazingly, Haraguchi managed to kick the shark (pictured) away from him after the lightning attack
That’s what the fisherman told ABC affiliate KITV 4“I heard a whooshing sound that sounded like a boat coming towards me with no motor and I looked up and saw a big brown thing.
“My brain thought it was a turtle, but then it hit me and I realized it was a tiger shark.”
Haraguchi said he managed to continue fishing after the terrifying attack.
The fisherman said he believed the shark mistook his kayak for a seal because a few minutes after the attack, Haraguchi saw an injured seal.
“I realize life is short, time is short on Earth, so make the most of it,” Haraguchi said.
Tiger sharks have a reputation for being man-eaters and are the second most deadly predators after the great white sharks.
Last December, a Hawaiian man managed to fend off a tiger shark with a dive knife after it bit him on the buttocks and ripped off a “good chunk.”
The unidentified man, 68, from Waikoloa, was bitten by a 10-foot tiger shark in December when he was swimming off Anaehoomalu Bay.
Witnesses said the man, who swam on the beach daily, was about 400 meters away when the shark attacked him.
He was able to fend off the animal with a dive knife before an unidentified woman and man named Kai jumped onto paddleboards and helped pull him out of the water to shore before he was rushed to hospital.
Tiger sharks (file image) have a reputation for being man eaters and are the second most deadly predators after great white sharks
Most unprovoked shark attacks were recorded in the US and Australia last year, but some bites also occurred in New Zealand, Thailand and Brazil
In another escape, diving expert Ocean Ramsey narrowly avoided being eaten by a tiger shark last October just as she was preparing to enter the ocean off Haleiwa, Hawaii.
The most unprovoked shark attacks were recorded in the US and Australia last year, data in February showed.
The shark bite capital of the world is Florida, the study found, after 16 unprovoked attacks were reported there last year.
In 2022, there were 57 unprovoked bites in the world – only five of which were fatal – while in 2021 there were 73, with nine deaths.
Last August, the Florida Museum has a interactive map which allows you to view the number of unprovoked shark attacks around the world.
It revealed that the US is the shark attack hotspot in the world, with 1,563 unprovoked attacks since 1580, followed by Australia (682 attacks), Republic of South Africa (258 attacks) and Brazil (110 attacks).
The vast majority were in Florida, and while none of them were fatal in the state, two of them resulted in amputations.
These are believed to be the result of bull shark bites.
A woman in the state’s Dry Tortugas National Park was attacked by a six-foot lemon shark, prompting her to repeatedly punch it in the face.
While snorkeling, 42-year-old Heather West approached a patch of seagrass that seemed to float in an odd way.
She turned on her stomach and looked behind her to see a shark with its jaws clamped on her foot, which was completely mutilated.
This was only the eleventh known unprovoked attack by a lemon shark.