A stunt for the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week program came alarmingly close to going horribly wrong after one of the presenters narrowly missed becoming a five-metre great white shark’s lunch.
In the clip, “experienced shark expert” and diver Jimi Partington was suspended somewhere in the Pacific Ocean in a clear perspex box when the mega beast began circling.
The shark then went deeper underwater before launching itself at Partington and shattering the cage in the process throwing him into the water.
The now seriously lighter Partington clung to the largest piece of the cage that remained while crew aboard the nearby boat could be heard shouting, clearly alarmed by the situation. He was then forced to make a terrifying swim for his life.
Watch the horror near miss unfold below:
Speaking of the incredible near miss, Shark Week producer Jeff Kurr told CNN: “It’s something I’ll never forget. I’ve been doing Shark Week for 32 years – I’ve never seen anything like that, an encounter like that.
“That fact that we captured it on camera, I actually thought he was dead. When a 16-foot great white shark comes at you like that, it’s almost something that’s unsurvivable.
“But somehow Jimi, who was in the cage, he managed to survive without a scratch, which is unbelievable – to have a shark that big coming that fast with an open mouth like that.”
