An eight-year-old boy named Manni had a close encounter with a shark while fishing off the coast of Lady Musgrave Island in Queensland, Australia.
A viral TikTok video shows Manni holding onto a ladder at the rear of a boat and hoisting a large fish onto the diving platform before he was attacked.
As he starts to speak about a shark, the shark suddenly appears, lunging towards the fish in Manni’s hands. However, the shark misses and it hits the boy instead.
Manni told 9 News that he was unharmed by the close encounter, saying, “It just felt like a little bit, it hurt a little bit on the chest but that’s it.”
Manni says that he would not be deterred from diving and that he plans to go back into the water.
The authenticity of the video has been questioned by some social media users, with one person writing in comments, “Looks like the shark is dead and somebody is pushing it on top of the kid.”
In a sequel to the video, Manni is seen with a different fish that he speared and appears unaffected by the shark encounter.
The videomaker was not impressed with the fish, asking, “That’s crap, the sh*ttest fish in the ocean, why did you even shoot it?”
Manni explains that the fish kept swimming up to him and that he shot it because it was dumb. The videomaker says that Manni will have to eat the fish himself, but in comments, the videomaker later revealed that the milkfish was given to a local.
The video of Manni’s close encounter with a shark has gone viral and sparked a conversation about the dangers of shark encounters.
While Manni emerged unscathed from the incident, it serves as a reminder of the importance of being cautious and aware while in the ocean.