Manhattan Beach Shark Attack: Onlookers Laughed As Shark Attacked The Victim? [Video]

Yesterday, The Inquisitr had reported about a shark attack at Manhattan Beach pier. The attack caused grievous injury to a man who is believed to be a middle aged cross country swimmer. While the person has been declared out of danger, the circumstances under which the shark attack happened seems to be brewing controversy. Adding fuel to fire is a recent video that has been uploaded to YouTube. The video shows the attack as it happened. Although it is quite blurry and doesn’t clearly show the attack happening, the footage does show the reaction of the people assembled at the pier.

The video in question has been posted by LoudLabs News on YouTube, reports the LA Times. In the video, the shark is reportedly seen “jumping right on top” of the swimmer. While this is not legible in the video itself, you can clearly hear people witnessing the event unfold talking about it. What people however found offensive was the way in which the people at the pier responded to the shark attack. People could be easily heard joking away and laughing hysterically as the swimmer is attacked by the shark. It seems, initially they weren’t really aware about the seriousness of the attack. Nevertheless, the video has ended up receiving lots of dislikes and hateful comments against the “insensitive” people making fun of the person who was attacked.

What has enraged people even more was the fact that the fisherman who had originally baited the 10-foot-shark was also amongst the people assembled there. The shark was on the hook for around 40 minutes and had become violent in its effort to free itself. It is now thought that the very reason for the attack to have taken place was the fact that the fisherman had aggravated the shark, indirectly causing the attack.

Nevertheless, once it became clear that the attack was serious, the assembled people are heard shouting out to other swimmers to get out of the water. If you listen carefully, you could also hear the vicious screams – perhaps that of the victim.

After the shark attack, the victim was taken Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. He had suffered from a single bite to his upper torso and was out of danger. The victim was later identified as Steven Robles who said that he believes it was a 7-foot juvenile shark that attacked him.

In a brief interview with KABC-TV, Robles says;

“It came up to the surface, it looked at me and attacked me right on the side of my chest,”. “That all happened within two seconds, I saw the eyes of the shark as I was seeing it swim towards me. It lunged at my chest, and it locked into my chest.”

Do you think the people assembled at the pier should have been a bit more sensitive towards the victim of the shark attack? Or do you think they were simply unaware about the actual danger?

[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]