Surfer almost swallowed by huge shark in Cornwall (video)
A brave beachgoer had an extremely close up encounter with an enormous basking shark in Cornwall this week - so close, in fact, it almost swallowed him whole.
Lew Smart, 31, spotted a fin in the water while he was enjoying the sun at the beach at Sennen Cove, west Cornwall.
The surf school instructor grabbed his underwater camera and bounded into the sea, and got so close at one point he thought he might be sucked into the shark's gaping 3ft wide jaws, reports the Daily Telegraph.
According to The Sun, there has been 25 sightings of basking sharks in Cornwall this year.
Matt Slater, of Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said: "We have a total of 25 sightings so far - more than anytime in the past three years and earlier than we would expect.
"It has been a mild winter which means the water is warmer and we have already seen an explosion of barrel jellyfish, also love the same kind of plankton, so it is perhaps not surprising. We're expecting it will be a good year."
Since 1998, basking sharks have been a protected species in British waters.
The basking shark is the second-largest living fish, after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating sharks besides the whale shark and megamouth shark. It is a cosmopolitan migratory species, found in all the world's temperate oceans.
Despite the fact they can grow up to eight metres long, basking sharks are not aggressive and are not a threat to humans.
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