Great white shark attacks cage diving tourist in terrifying encounter (video)

The moment an "aggressive" great white shark lunged at a tourist while he was enjoying a cage diving experience in South Africa has been caught on camera.

Cedric Alexanderson, 29, came extremely close to the shark's enormous jaws when the 16ft predator attacked and tried to bite through the metal cage.

He told the Manchester Evening News: "There was very poor visibility in the water and all I really saw was a shadow come at me really quickly.

"Before I knew it all I had in front of me was a big black hole with hundreds of extremely serrated, sharp teeth sticking out at all angles.

"It was almost like I was looking at some sort of strange blender in front of me and I might get chopped up in it.

"Everything went in slow motion as I was staring down its throat."

Cedric, who is originally from Canada but now lives in Manchester, was visiting his brother Sebastian in Cape Town, and his father Sven had also flown over from Montreal for the reunion.

He added: "I felt a mixture of just being in awe of something so amazing that just happened, lucky to be alive and just excitement at the fact I'd seen something I'm pretty sure not many people will get to see and live to tell the tale."

Shark cage diving is one of the main tourist attractions in the small town.Chum is thrown into the water to attract the creatures for an adrenaline-fuelled close encounter.

But generally the encounters aren't that close, as experts said this particular shark was very aggressive. So much so, in fact, that the rest of the day's dives were cancelled as a precaution.

But the very up close and personal moment wouldn't deter Cedric from doing it again. According to the Mirror, he said: "I came so close to death but something so beautiful, all I can say is I'd definitely do it again."

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