A surfer caught the moment a he was knocked into the water by a hammerhead shark in a terrifying attack.
Adam Baber shared footage of him foil surfing, which is a board attached to an underwater mast and wings, out on the water when he spotted something unexpected poke through to the top. The surfer showed the moment the shark swam right underneath him and hit his board. Baber tumbled into the water, with the shark nearby, in the terrifying and rare attack.
Baber, who shared the shocking footage on Instagram, shared what went through his mind in that moment and even admitted he thought he was “done for”.
He wrote: “Today a Hammerhead attacked my foil(previous to video), knocked me off my board and then circled back on me eventually and thankfully changing his mind. Sorry for my screaming I thought I was done for.”
The surfer was thankfully spared by the hammerhead shark while “attacked” on his foil surfing outing. It is not clear exactly where or when the terrifying incident happened.
Although the hammerhead shark knocked this surfer off his board, attacks from this type of shark are incredibly rare. Up until 2022, there were only 18 reported unprovoked attacks by hammerhead sharks.
This species of shark had not killed any humans, according to the International Shark Attack Files. This pales in comparison to great white sharks, which are responsible for 292 attacks and 59 deaths.
This comes as a former Australian Navy diver revealed how a routine training exercise turned into a life-changing horror when a creature struck him from nowhere.
Paul de Gelder, from Melbourne, lost a hand and a leg in the savage eight-second bull shark attack in February 2009, in Sydney. He likened the pain from the mauling to having two rows of 36 razor blades on each side of his leg and wrist, tearing through his flesh.
The Aussie diver said he had been taught to hit a shark in the eye if he was ever attacked. Following his attack and recovery, Paul said: “My left hand couldn’t reach the shark’s eye, and when I tried to punch it in the nose, it started shaking me. The pain was just so all-encompassing that the fight just went out of me. I was a rag doll in this monster’s mouth while getting thrashed around underwater. I was in total agony and drowning at the same time.”
He added: “From going to jab him in the eyeball with my hand, to working out that my hand was in his mouth as well, to trying to go for the eyeball with my other hand, pushing it, punching it, then going under water, coming up, and going back down.”