Terrifying moment kayaker desperately uses paddle to fend off SHARK as hammerhead shark circles him off Spanish holiday island
This is the terrifying moment a kayaker has to use his paddle to fend off a shark off a Spanish holiday island.
The man decided to take action when he saw the fish starting to swim around him and getting closer during a day out at La Palma in the Canary Islands.
The shark was identified as a hammerhead, the same type of shark that most experts believe is responsible for the attack on a German woman on a British-flagged catamaran last Monday. The woman died after being airlifted to hospital in Gran Canaria.
The latest incident occurred off the coast of Tazacorte, a town and municipality in the western part of the island of La Palma, considered one of the most scenically spectacular in the Canary Islands.
The sportsman at the center of the drama could be heard telling the shark, “Get the hell out of here,” as he tried to hit it with his paddle. The shark’s signature fin was getting closer and closer, and he began to fear the shark was going to tip his kayak over.
The local decided to take action after he saw the fish begin to circle and get closer to him while he was enjoying a day out in La Palma in the Canary Islands. The shark was identified as a hammerhead, the same type that most experts believe could be responsible for the attack on a German woman on a British-flagged catamaran on Monday who died while being airlifted to hospital in Gran Canaria.
The sportsman at the centre of the drama could be heard telling the shark to “get the hell away” as he tried to hit it with his oar, its trademark fin drawing closer and closer as he became concerned the shark would capsize his kayak.
Social media users attempted to downplay the incident, claiming that hammerhead sharks are not normally aggressive towards humans, even though the species has been linked to last Monday’s incident involving a 30-year-old German man on a pleasure boat named Dalliance Chichester.
She suffered a fatal cardiac arrest in a Spanish Air Force helicopter while being taken to hospital after her leg was bitten off.
The incident occurred while the catamaran was in international waters, 278 miles southwest of Gran Canaria airport and approximately 110 miles east of the city of Dakhla in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, currently occupied by Morocco.
The anonymous victim was pronounced dead on arrival at the Doctor Negrin Hospital in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria, at around 11pm on Monday evening.
The city court has opened a routine investigation.
Court sources confirmed it was being treated as an accident, but witnesses had not been called to give evidence. One said: ‘Procedures have been initiated, as with any fatal accident. No one has been questioned yet and there are no immediate plans to question anyone.’
According to initial reports, the victim was swimming in the ocean at the time. However, a Gran Canaria newspaper later reported that she was fishing with meat as bait and that she had one leg in the water.
In June, holiday beaches on the east coast of Gran Canaria were closed after sharks were spotted.
Local police later confirmed via drone that one of the sharks spotted was a three-metre hammerhead shark.
Most hammerhead shark species are indeed considered harmless to humans and attacks have been reported to be few. However, they are aggressive hunters and their size and ferocity make them potentially harmless.
They can grow up to 6 meters long and weigh up to 450 kilos.
Experts who analysed Monday’s fatal shark attack have ruled out the possibility that it was a tintorera or blue shark, which is spotted every summer off the beaches of mainland Spain.
