An enraged 15-stone-7-pound shark attacked a scuba diving instructor, causing a massive cut in her leg.
Nurse and influencer Carmen Canovas Cervello, 30, was hit by the beast while freediving with photographer Ibrahim Shafeeg.
The six-inch Nurse Shark’s mouth left a massive wound that was clearly visible on camera and was actively bleeding.
The two cleansed the cut while assessing its severity once they were out of the sea close to the Dhiggiri resort on Vaavu Atoll, Maldives.
They had been swimming in the region for 45 minutes before to the occurrence, and they felt as though the wound was provided by the sharks as a warning for going too near, since they considered the bite was only a small damage that could have easily been much worse.
The woman, however, was not intimidated and soon after fending off the beast, she returned to the sea.
The duo opted to keep snorkelling and scuba diving with the sharks for days, allowing the bite to heal on its own, because Canovas didn’t feel the need for any medical attention or treatment.
Although nurse sharks are typically non-aggressive and have been observed to swim away when approached, their bite can be fatal if provoked in any manner due to their deadly sharp teeth and powerful jaw.
Up to 2022, there have been about 51 provoked and five unprovoked attacks by nurse sharks documented.
This was the first time Canovas had received a shark bite, but that hasn’t stopped the pair from diving head-first into the dangerous waters once again to experience being so up-close and personal with the sharks in their natural habitat.
Shafeeg said: “We were in the shark bay at Vaavu Atoll diving with nurse sharks.
“There were around ten nurse sharks, from 198-pounds to 220-pounds and over three-metres 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 snorkelling at the same spot again.”