Man attacked by shark identified after chilling footage showed them swimming between beachgoers
A man whose shark attack was captured in a video has been identified after police confirmed that remains had been found in the area.
Footage filmed from a beach in northwest Israel on April 21 documented a member of the public calling emergency services as the attack unfolded, telling the dispatcher that someone had been 'bitten' by a shark and was 'screaming'.
The incident took place on Hadera beach, prompting the Coastal Department for the area to launch a search to look for the man who had been attacked.
On April 22, Cmdr. Aryeh Doron issued a statement indicating that remains had been found in the search, saying: "We are on the second day of searches and are using every available resource. The police commissioner has directed all forces to assist. Several findings have been sent for testing, and we await the results."
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"We are committed to doing everything we can to bring closure to the family and will continue our efforts until the missing man is located," the statement added.
On April 23, both police and the wife of the man who had been attacked confirmed he had died.
Police said remains had been found at the site, and that they had been identified.
According to local media, per ABC News, the victim of the shark attack was a 45-year-old named Barak Tzach, who was a father of four from the city of Petah Tikva.
A Facebook post attributed to the wife of Tzach said he had entered the water off the Mediterranean coast with snorkeling gear and an underwater camera. She said he was not new to swimming in the sea, and he wanted to 'dive and document the sharks'.
The post assured Tzach did not go in the water 'to feed them or play with' the sharks, and claimed a fisherman who had been with Tzach at the time said her husband did not touch or feed the creatures.
Instead, when the sharks appeared to get too close he attempted to 'gently distance them' using the stick on his camera.
The fisherman called Tzach back to the shore, Tzach's wife said, but as he made his way back he was attacked.
In the wake of the attack, a spokesperson for the local police force urged the public to 'avoid entering the water and coming into contact with the sharks'.
Most sharks spotted in the area around Hadera are dusky sharks - creatures which are not normally aggressive to humans, but which may become aggravated by the activity caused by swimmers.
Emily Brown