The chilling final words of a man who was dragged out to sea in a shark attack have been revealed.
A diver is feared missing or dead after being attacked by a shark off the coast of northern Israel.
Visitors at Olga Beach, Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, looked on in horror as they witnessed the incident from the safety of the beach.
Shocking footage posted to social media shows the brutality of the attack, with onlookers unable to help the swimmer.
There has been no recorded fatal shark attack off the waters of Israel since the country was founded in 1948, according to the BBC
The predators are known to frequent the area from November to May. Fish die-offs occur in the Hadera Stream and the Alexander Stream nearby, attracting sharks to the shores.
The times of israe states that sharks eat dead, sick, and wounded fish as they enter the sea, helping keep natural waters clean.
Dusky and sandbar sharks are regularly spotted in waters, but are not known to attack humans.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority said the incident was in a prohibited area: “The Authority reiterates its warning against interacting with sharks and once again calls on the public to avoid approaching them, as they are protected animals.”
The shark reportedly swam close to other people before attacking the man near the Orot Rabin power station.
Many beachgoers chose to leave the water, however, footage posted to social media shows some close to the animal in the sea.
The harrowing video of the incident shows the swimmer in the sea going in and out of frame, with his limbs waving around, and the shark’s fin circling him.
It appears that the diver was trying to fight back against the shark.
Eyewitnesses report that the water surrounding him turned red, suggesting the man had been bitten.
In the footage, a bystander can be heard shouting: “Wow, wow, he’s with the shark, he’s fighting him, they’re eating him, eating the man… Can’t see him.”
One beach visitor called emergency services, telling them: “There’s someone here, that a shark has bitten.”
They added: “He’s in the sea at Hadera. He’s drowning. He’s in the sea. Nobody’s coming to save him.”
When the operator asked if the person still had eye contact with the man, they answered no.
During the terrifying ordeal, it’s said the swimmer screamed out ‘help’ and ‘they’re biting me.’
The victim’s current whereabouts are unknown. The police have closed the beach, and searches are underway to locate him.
Ziv Demeter, of the Magnus search and rescue organization, told Channel 12 that a body in a diving suit floats to the water’s surface, allowing it to be located.
Yet he added: “If he wasn’t in a [diving] suit, this is where the problem starts. The body could be swept away, and locating it could take hours or even days.”
The MIRRORreports that the shark attacked a rescue diver searching for the man.
The Hadera municipality’s Coastal Department said it is carrying out searches by jet ski to locate the male swimmer.
