The man, who remains unidentified, is presumed to be dead after being seen tussling with the shark in the waves.
The footage, which was filmed by beachgoers in Hadera, Israel, captured the diver screaming: “They’re biting me!”, before being dragged further out to sea on Monday, according to The Times of Israel.
One witness was heard exclaiming: “They’re eating him, eating the man!”, while another added: “Wow, wow, he’s with the shark, he’s fighting him.”
Another video had captured sharks appearing to swim between children close to the shore.
A man filming exclaimed: “What a huge shark! Whoa! He’s coming toward us!”, before telling a child nearby: “Don’t move!”
The child responded: “I’m leaving,” to which the man then asked: “What, are you afraid of the sharks?”
One eyewitness, Eliya Motai, told Ynet: “I was in the water, I saw blood and there were screams.”
Another witness who was identified as Shlomo added that he and his friends are “traumatized” by what they saw, explaining: “We were just walking down to the water when we saw someone flailing in the sea — fighting a shark and trying to get away. The shark lunged at him. It was hard to watch.
“It was chilling. We literally saw the shark attack him … It could’ve been me.”
Human remains were found on Tuesday, almost 24 hours after the shark attack, after officials shut down the beach and launched a large-scale search using divers, jetskis, and helicopters.
Officials have not confirmed whether the remains are those of the missing diver, but police spokesperson Aryeh Doron said in a statement: “At this point, I am able to say that there were several findings that were sent for [forensic] examination, and we will await the professional results.”
No further information has yet been revealed about the victim, with YNet News reporting that distraught family members were seen rushing to the beach after the discovery was made.
It is not known what breed of shark was responsible for the attack, with marine life experts believing it may have been a dusky shark or sandbar shark which are typically harmless to humans, but local experts say shark attacks are incredibly rare in Israel.
Yigael Ben-Ari, head of marine rangers at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said this would be just the third shark attack recorded in Israel in the last 80 years, with one person also being killed in the 1940s.
Endangered dusky sharks – which can reach an impressive 13 feet long and weigh 750 pounds – and sandbar sharks which are smaller at 8 feet and 220 pounds, have been found in the area along the Mediterranean coast for years.
Our thoughts remain with those affected by this tragedy.
