A great white shark has beheaded a diver off the coast of Mexico in front of shocked fishermen.
During the first fatal shark attack in 2023, Manuel Lopez was diving for shellfish off San José Beach in Tobari Bay on Mexico’s west coast when he was attacked by a shark on January 5.
Mr. Lopez, a 50-year-old man, was severed from his body by a 19-foot (5.7 meter) shark.
This was told by the fisherman Jose Bernal. shark tracking that Mr. Lopez was “diving when the animal attacked him, ripping off his head and biting both shoulders.”
Mr. Lopez was diving about 59 feet (18 meters) deep to collect an axe, a scallop-like clam, on the ocean floor when the shark confronted him.
Mr. Bernal said several sharks had been seen in the water days before the attack, adding that fishermen were on the lookout for the animals.
“Local divers have been alerted to the presence of sharks in the area and most have not surfaced for several days,” he said.
Some people refrained from entering the water due to shark sightings. But a shortage of seafood caused demand to rise in the area, leading to Mr. Lopez’s decision to go diving.
Although fishermen can qualify for an annual stipend of 7,200 pesos, this is not enough when there is no income from the sea. shark tracking reported.
Mr. Lopez used a surface air source that is common in the area, which includes a compressor that “pumps air to the diver through a set of hoses connected to the diver along with ropes, with the diver often pulling the boat. along the surface using their tethered supply lines,” according to Shark tracking.
Great white sharks can reach 20 feet in length (6 meters) and weigh up to two tons, and their teeth can be up to 300 serrated.
With a strong sense of smell, sharks can swim at speeds of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h), usually preying on seals, sea lions, dolphins, as well as turtles.
Experts say people can be mistaken for seals, especially in wetsuits, and attacks on people are often seen as “experimental”.
Sharks tend to walk away after one bite when they realize that a human was not their intended target, but one bite is often fatal.
“Great white sharks are most common in the Gulf of California in December and January when pregnant female sharks come in.” shark tracking noted. “Sharks often seek out fatty sea lions to eat due to their high calorie content.”
