This is the shocking moment when a 220-pound shark sank its teeth into a snorkeler and left her with a six-inch grizzly wound on her side in the Maldives.
Carmen Canovas Cervello, 30, was diving with a friend in the paradise island’s Vaavu Atoll when the eight-foot nurse shark lunged at her, clamping its jaws on her side.
Dramatic footage shows the creature circling the bikini-clad tourist before suddenly turning and attacking her.
Somewhat amazingly, the woman decided to jump right back in for a second dive after cleaning the wound left by the disgruntled nurse shark.
Cervello and friend Ibrahim Shafeeg, 37, an underwater photographer who captured the amazing images, had been free swimming with the school of sharks for more than 45 minutes before disaster struck.
Carmen Canovas Cervello, 30, who works as a nurse, found a set of shark teeth in her side, leaving her with a horrific bite mark
Cervello had taken a dip in the ocean off the coast of the Maldives with friend Ibrahim Shafeeg, 37, an underwater photographer who captured the amazing images
Cervello was left with a gaping six-inch wound after a 220-pound nurse shark sank its teeth into her
In the shocking footage, it looked like a shark decided they were too close for comfort and showed its dominance by gritting its teeth on Cervello’s shoulder and upper back.
Even if only for a brief moment, the determined creature left quite a mark about six inches in diameter on the diver’s body.
Mr Shafeeg unexpectedly captured the shocking attack while filming the sharks around him with his GoPro camera.
Both Mr. Shafeeg and Mrs. Cervello immediately jumped out of the water to check the damage the bite-happy creature had done to her shoulder and back.
Once out of the water near the Dhiggiri resort on Vaavu Atoll, the pair cleaned the wound as they examined how serious it was.
Despite the attack, the daredevil pair felt the sharks had given the wound as a warning to get too close, believing the bite was just a minor injury that could easily have been much worse.
Amazingly, the unfazed pair decided within seconds that they would dive back into the shark-infested waters to resume their diving experience.
Cervello didn’t feel she needed medical attention or treatment, so the pair decided to continue snorkeling and diving with the sharks for days, letting the bite heal itself.
Nurse sharks are common in the Vaavu Atoll region of the Maldives as it is a common place for the sharks to forage for food at the various tourist attractions in the area.
Cervello didn’t feel she needed medical attention or treatment, so the pair decided to continue snorkeling
Ibrahim Shafeeg unexpectedly captured the shocking attack while filming the sharks around him with his GoPro camera
If provoked, nurse sharks can inflict a life-threatening bite due to their extremely sharp teeth and strong jaws
Nurse sharks are usually not aggressive and have been known to swim away if approached. But if provoked somehow, their bite can be life threatening due to their extremely sharp teeth and strong jaws.
According to pre-2022 reports, there were about 51 provoked and five unprovoked nurse shark attacks.
This was Cervello’s first time getting a shark bite, but that hasn’t stopped the pair from diving headfirst into the dangerous waters again to experience how close and personal they are with the sharks in their natural habitat.
“We were diving with nurse sharks in Shark Bay on Vaavu Atoll,” Shafeeg said.
‘We decided to take a free dive trip to Shark Bay and snorkel in a pod of sharks there.
“There were about ten nurse sharks, ranging from 198 pounds to 220 pounds and over ten feet wide.
“After the shark bite, we thought it was nothing serious as it was only a minor injury, so we cleaned the wound and went back to snorkeling in the same spot.”