Tourists scream ‘shark’ at swimmers with no idea predator is circling them
Footage has captured the moment a shark circled clueless beachgoers before onlookers screamed: ‘Shark!’
Daniel Brooks was on a balcony overlooking Floida’s Panama City Beach when he saw the silhouette of the predator heading towards two swimmers.
Brooks and those around him began shouting ‘shark’ at them, with sunbathers screaming the same as the two people swam back to shore.
‘It looks little from up here,’ said someone with Brooks. ‘But it ain’t.’
The shark was there for several minutes, Brooks’ video posted on TikTok showed.
Brooks posted a second clip of several fishing boats patrolling Panama City Beach four days later before spotting yet another shark.
‘Yesterday morning was like The Jaws scene,’ he said, calling the situation ‘crazy’.
There has been a ‘notable presence of sharks’ swimming around the Gulf of Mexico this month, forcing the authorities to briefly close Bay County beaches.
Two teenagers and a woman were injured in shark attacks less than two hours apart on June 14, leading to one woman having her arm amputated.
Both incidents happened between Panama City Beach and Miramar Beach in nearby Walton County.
The first attack on the afternoon of June 8 saw a woman, 45, bitten while swimming with her husband near Founders Lane in Watersound Beach, west of Seacrest Beach.
‘She received significant trauma to the midsection and pelvic area,’ said South Walton Fire District Fire Chief Ryan Crawford at a press conference, ‘as well as amputation of the left lower arm.’
Just half an hour later at 3pm, two girls aged 15 and 17 were swimming in waist-deep water near the Sandy Shores Court – about four miles east of the earlier attack – when a shark pounced.
Crawford added: ‘Victim one received significant injuries to one upper and one lower extremity. Victim number two received what’s been described as flesh wounds to the right lower extremity.’
Walton lifeguards waved red and purple flags yesterday, signalling ‘high surf hazards and dangerous/stinging marine life’ respectively.
Officials have spotted bull sharks and a 14-foot hammerhead shark prowling the gulf in recent days. Neither are ‘uncommon’, sheriffs said.
‘We want to reiterate that sharks are always present in the Gulf. Swimmers and beachgoers should be cautious when swimming and stay aware of their surroundings,’ they added.
Shark attacks are rare. The Florida Museum of Natural History reported 69 unprovoked shark bites last year in the state.
While the Tracking Sharks website says this month’s three shark attacks were the first in Florida this year.
Why there has been a recent spike in shark attacks by the gulf remains unclear, though police have suggested that ‘bait fish are schooling near the shore at this time of year… may have been a contributing factor in the attacks’.
Most of the time, sharks only bite people when they are ‘confused or curious’, the National Ocean Service says.
‘If a shark sees a human splashing in the water, it may try to investigate, leading to an accidental attack,’ the agency says.
‘Still, sharks have more to fear from humans than we do of them. Humans hunt sharks for their meat, internal organs, skin, and fins in order to make products such as shark fin soup, lubricants, and leather.’
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