Diver Manuel Lopez (53) was brutally killed by a great white shark on 5 January in Mexico this year.
It is the first fatal shark attack in 2023.
Lopez was out diving for molluscs off San Jose Beach in Tobary Bay, on the west coast of Mexico, when the brutal incident took place, according to the Independent.
Another diver named Victor Estrella died during a shark attack in the same area i 2022.
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Shocked eyewitnesses
The 53-year-old was beheaded by the six-metre-long great white shark in front of the public on that fateful January day:
Several fishermen caught the entire grotesque session.
– The shark tore his head off and bit through both shoulders, says fisherman Jose Bernal Tracking Sharks.
He saw the attack up close and says that he is affected by the incident.
Bernal states that several sharks had been observed in the area a couple of days before the attack, and added that the local community had been warned about this.
– All the divers had been advised to stay away for a couple of days, he says further.
Since most divers and fishermen had complied with the advice recently, there was a great demand for seafood. That must have been the reason why Lopez still took the chance.
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Confused with seal
It is still unclear what prompted the great white shark to attack Lopez.
However, it is known that in several cases people have been mistaken for seals when they are wearing wetsuits – which can trigger the sharks, writes New York Post.
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Sharks tend to move away as soon as they realize that the creature they are biting is not the desired prey. But then the damage may have already been done, writes Tracking Sharks.
They add that people in wetsuits mistaken for seals primarily occur in December and January, when great white sharks are generally most abundant in the Gulf of California.
