Featured Image Credit: Facebook
Topics: Israel, Shark, Animals, World News, Nature
Liv Bridge
The wife of the man who was killed in a shark attack this week has revealed his heartbreaking final moments before his death.
Disturbing footage captured the moment onlookers from Hadera beach in northwest Israel witnessed a man battle a predator beneath the waves before disappearing.
Members of the public made frantic calls to the authorities as the attack unfolded on April 21, saying someone had been 'bitten' by a shark and was 'screaming'.
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The authorities conducted an extensive search through the waters for the missing man and tragically confirmed the next day on April 22 that human remains had been discovered.
Police and the victim's wife then confirmed it was Barak Tzach, a 45-year-old father of four from the city of Petah Tikva, who had died in the attack.
His grief-stricken wife, Sarit Tzach, has since revealed his final moments in a bid to put vicious rumors to bed.
On Facebook, she said Tzach had entered the water off the Mediterranean coast with snorkeling gear and an underwater camera.
She said he was no stranger to swimming in the sea, and he wanted to 'dive and document the sharks'.
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The endangered dusky and sandbar sharks are known to frequent the waters near Hadera, and although they are not usually aggressive to humans, can become aggravated by the activity caused by swimmers.
The situation has been made worse with floods of visitors flocking to the site to catch a glimpse, where some have even gone so far as to try to touch and feed the predators.
Officials have warned against swimming with the wild animals and have rolled out a swimming ban on the beach, though clearly to no avail.
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Sarit said he had swam that particular stretch before but was keeping a respectful distance.
She wrote: "Barak entered the water to dive and document the sharks, not to feed them or play with them.
"With deep sorrow and wordless pain, we announce the death of our husband and father. I would like to put an end to the rumours that are being spread around the circumstances of his death and tell the truth.
"On the day of his death, Barak arrived at the beach after a day of work, as he often did. He entered the sea equipped with a snorkel, mask, fins, and a GoPro camera – without anything else, and certainly not with fish or bait, contrary to rumours."
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She claimed her husband would 'gently' use the stick of his camera to push the sharks and gain some 'distance' from them and that a fisherman accompanying him confirmed Tzach was not trying to feed, agitate, or touch the animals.
And heartbreakingly, Tzach was carefully swimming away from the creatures when he was attacked.
She explained: "In a conversation I had with a fisherman who witnessed the incident, I was told that he swam alongside a shark and later moved slightly away in a more open direction.
"He filmed the sharks from a distance but didn't touch or feed them. When they started to get too close to him, he used the GoPro's stick to gently push them away. The fisherman called him back to shore, and Barak started swimming slowly toward him – and then he was attacked."
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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'.