Huge Shark Darts Directly At Swimmer at Panama City Beach
In the video below, you can see a huge hammerhead shark as it swims rapidly toward a swimmer at Panama City Beach in Florida.
The video, posted on Facebook by Katie Allyson Thomson, was reported to have been taken in front of the Splash Resort in Panama City Beach.
Shark attacks are not nearly as common as many people think. According to National Geographic, around 20 shark attacks on humans are reported annually, with an average of only 1 fatality every 2 years from those shark attacks. You are MUCH more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a shark.
With that being said, I am guessing that having a shark "event" occur this close to you would help get some of your fight-or-flight responses warmed up, just in case they had gotten rusty.
In the video, it appears that the shark darts toward the swimmer as if it was going to attack the swimmer. After closer examination, you can see that the shark was actually going after a fish that was using the swimmer as "cover".
Hammerhead sharks are not known to be so aggressive that they will attack humans. According to the University of Florida, there has never been a fatality resulting from an unprovoked hammerhead shark attack and, in total, there have only been 16 unprovoked hammerhead shark attacks on humans. Ever. That's a pretty low rate.
The individuals recording the video from their balcony had no clue that there was a fish near the man, so they probably thought that they were about to witness bloodshed. I have to be honest: when I saw the video the first time, I thought the same thing!
Watch for the fish darting toward the shore as the shark approaches the man:
We're glad that this turned out the way most shark encounters turn out.