Hammerhead shark charges toward swimmer while beachgoers scream in terror in viral video.
The shark briefly appeared near the coast at Panama City Beach before swimming back out to the ocean
Written content from Michael Hollan
The beach is supposed to be for relaxing.
A man wading in the waters off the coast of Florida had a close encounter with a hammerhead shark. Fortunately, the large animal apparently lost interest in the man, but not after appearing to charge towards him.
Katie Van Bogart uploaded a video of the incident to her TikTok page, where she wrote that it was filmed on Friday morning at Panama City Beach. Since uploading the video, it has been viewed over 6 million times.
In the video, a man can be seen wading in the water as the shark swims nearby. Initially, it is unclear if the man is aware that the shark is nearby, although nobody else is standing near him.
Suddenly, the shark seems to charge directly towards the man, prompting screams of fear from people watching the scene unfold from the beach. Fortunately, the shark breaks off and swims away after coming within just a few feet of the man.
At this point, he seems to become aware that the shark is nearby, likely due to people yelling the word “shark” over and over again. He slowly starts to make his way back towards the beach as the shark appears to swim away.
According to a commenter on TikTok, the shark was actually chasing a fish and only appeared to be charging towards the man. Another commenter responded, saying that if that was the case, the best thing to do was to just stand still, as splashing around could confuse the shark and cause it to attack. Read more from Fox
Hammerhead Shark visits Miramar Beach in Destin, FL 8/5/2013
Swimmers and kayakers didn’t seem to mind the fact that a hammerhead shark is just hanging out at Miramar Beach in Destin, FL.
Hammerhead sharks are common in this part of Florida but they rarely come this close to beachgoers. Curiosity will always bring humans close to danger, and these Summertime tourists just can’t help themselves but get a closer look.