Woman's close encounter with shark at popular beach: 'Very lucky'
People are praising a swimmer for how she dealt with a shark after the rare sighting occurred on a popular Dubai beach.
The shark was filmed swimming very close to the shore of Kite beach — known for kitesurfing — as a lifeguard urges people out of the water.
One swimmer is seen unmoving in the water while the shark approaches her and people stare on in horror.
As the shark swims further back behind her, she starts to slowly make her way to the shore while looking back at the shark every so often.
Beyond the shark, a man is also seen swimming in close proximity to the animal, clearly not realising until he's closer to the shore.
"Even these things happen," the Russian tourist wrote in her video, clearly shocked by the terrifying encounter.
The footage got more than 6.7 million views, with many commending the female swimmer's approach and saying how "lucky" she is.
"She might have saved herself by not panicking and splashing around," one person said.
"She did the perfect thing," said another.
Others were shocked at the seemingly relaxed response of other beach-goers, with one person seen to even stay standing in the water despite the shark being metres away.
"Bro why is everyone chill AF," one person said.
"Even though nothing harmful happened, I think the reaction by both the swimmers and watchers did not convey the gravity of the situation," said another. To which someone replied with "understatement of the year".
"Why were people laughing???" another asked.
Tourist posts update video at Kite beach
Having bravely decided to come back to the beach 17 days later on Sunday, the traveller said no sharks were spotted that day.
We waited and waited for the shark, and nothing came," she said in an updated TikTok video. "However they are patrolling the shore".
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Kite beach is known to be heavily guarded by security and is reportedly only accessible for swimming until sunset.
What not to do when you see a shark
A diver swimming in Hawaii recently demonstrated how to safely negotiate with a shark in the hope of educating other swimmers.
"Splashing and swimming away imitates what prey does. When we’re dealing with top predators like sharks, we want to also act like predators," Kayleigh Grant said in the voiceover of the video.
"What you’d actually want to do is not splash, turn around and face the animal, and maintain eye contact.
"Just like bears and other predators we are taught to maintain eye contact, yell, get large, back away slowly… it’s the same with sharks!".
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