Diver shows how to fend off tiger shark in ‘amazing’ video

A diver who came face-to-face with a tiger shark while diving off the coast of Hawaii has been caught on camera calmly explaining what to do if you’re ever in the “rare situation” of being approached by one.

Andriana Fragola, who works as a safety diver with One Ocean Diving tours, said that everyone should “anticipate you could potentially see a shark” and be prepared to react anytime you enter the ocean.

If approached by a tiger shark, she explained, you should maintain eye contact with the creature before extending your arm and pressing your hand flat on its head.

Then to divert the shark away from you, you must “follow through by pushing your body and over away from them”. She demonstrated how to do this in the video, which was described as “amazing” and liked more than four million times on TikTok.

Once the shark’s head has been successfully turned away, Ms Fragola recommends brushing your extended hand along the side of its body to ensure distance is maintained in case it turns back to approach again. “Make sure to do a look around and make sure there are no other sharks approaching,” she added.

The method outlined in Fragola’s video is “the safest thing to do” with tiger sharks, she said, which can grow up to 16 foot long and are commonly found in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

For smaller sharks, she recommends using scuba diving fins to push them away.

Tiger sharks are among the deadliest species of shark and are second only to the great white in recorded fatalities.

Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources recommends avoiding the ocean if sharks are known to be present and leaving “quickly and calmly” if one is sighted.