Dramatic video has been captured of an offshore saturation diver having a very close shave with a hammerhead shark.
Jason Chandler, who has been in the industry for more than 20 years, was given “such a fright” when the predator took an interest in his work, around 65 metres below the surface in the Persian Gulf last month.
Footage recorded from his camera shows the hammerhead shark making an approach to the diver, while his team on board the Swordfish support vessel urged him to slowly make his way back to the dive bell.
In the video, he can be heard being told “make your way back to the bell” and “don’t turn your back on it”.
Mr Chandler told Energy Voice: “That experience was pretty wild. The shark actually bumped me really hard on my left leg before I saw it and gave me such a fright I just started swearing like a real sailor.
“If I’d known how the video would get out there I would have acted a little braver and sworn a little less!”
He added that he is happy that neither himself nor the shark were hurt during the “surprise meeting” off Qatar.
Mr Chandler, who lives in South Africa and started his commercial diving career in 2000, moved into saturation diving in 2008 and has spent time working in the US, Middle East, West Africa, the Far East and Trinidad.
In that time, he has had his fair share of meetings with the locals.
“I have had many amazing encounters with a variety of different sealife including big Manta Ray’s, Morey Eels, Sea Turtles, Whale sharks and many different shark species.
“I have been bitten by Eels and stung by lion fish many times… it all goes with the job.”