Video Captures Moment Great White Shark Breaks Open Cage With Diver Inside
The diver improbably emerged unharmed.
— -- A California man has captured on video the terrifying moment a great white shark breaks open and enters a shark cage with a diver inside.
The man shot the video last week off the coast of Mexico's Guadalupe Island.
"On a recent great white shark cage diving trip we experienced a very rare event, a shark breaching the side of the cage," the man, who asked that his name not be used, wrote on YouTube, where he posted the video. "What might appear to be an aggressive great white shark trying to attack the cage, this is not the case."
In the video, the shark smashes through a diving cage and leaps out the top -- with a diver inside.
Spoiler alert: The diver emerges shaken, but miraculously unharmed.
Ming Chan, the diver, told ABC News today, ”It happened so fast. The other divers just kept telling me how lucky I am.”
The Shanghai man said the incident will not keep him out of the water, and that he plans to stay in touch with the other divers.
He said his wife didn't believe him until he showed off the video, which rattled her. She told him, “I love you but you better be ... careful when you go again," he said.
The videographer said, "These awesome sharks are biting at large chunks of tuna tied to a rope. When a great white shark lunges and bites something, it is temporarily blinded. They also cannot swim backwards. So this shark lunged at the bait, accidentally hit the side of the cage, was most likely confused and not able to swim backwards, it thrust forward and broke the metal rail of the cage.
"There was a single diver inside the cage. He ended up outside the bottom of the cage, looking down on two great white sharks. The diver is a very experienced dive instructor, remained calm, and when the shark thrashed back outside the cage, the diver calmly swam back up and climbed out completely uninjured."
Just like Chan, the videographer's love of shark-infested waters hasn't been shaken. "I want to return next year for another great white shark adventure," he said.