Mother films moment daughter comes terrifyingly close to shark at South Carolina beach: ‘She saw a fin coming out’

‘Even though I know we’re in their habitat, I didn’t think I was going into that day thinking I was going to be right next to a shark,’ says 11 year-old

A mother accidentally videod the moment a shark came into close contact with her daughter, who fled the water after seeing a fin coming towards her while at the beach in South Carolina.

Nicole Oister and her daughter Sara Oister, 11, were spending the day in Myrtle Beach while Ms Oister took video of Sara boogie boarding in the water and caught the moment on camera.

She told ABC 11, “I was taking video of her, and all of a sudden, she starts running out of the water. She said she saw a fin coming up out of the water towards her.”

In the video, Sara can be seen swimming in the waves until a shark fin darts into view, which prompts Sara to get out of the water and run away.

“I looked back on the video to see if I had captured it, and I did,” she continued.

The area is a popular vacation spot and more than 40 species of sharks can be spotted in its waters. The one featured in the video was not identified.

Sara also spoke to the same outlet about her surprise about coming into contact with the much feared fish.

“Even though I know we’re in their habitat, I didn’t think I was going into that day thinking I was going to be right next to a shark,” the little girl said.

The Independent hasreached out to Ms Oister for comment.

In May, a similar incident took place in Hawaii. A six-year-old girl had a close encounter with a shark while swimming in the sea.

The director emeritus of the Florida Program for Shark Research, George Burgess said that there had been no uptick in the amount of shark encounters this year, according to reports.

He said, “But what we are seeing, of course, is an increased population of humans that are in the water every year, so the density of humans in the water is higher than ever.”

Recently, experts have questioned the labels people use to describe shark encounters, urging people to rethink using language such as “attacks”. This includes Christopher Pepin-Neff, a shark-human relationship researcher at the University of Sydney.

He told The New York Times, “A ‘shark attack’ is a story of intent. But sharks don’t know what people are. They don’t know when you’re in the boat. They don’t know what a propeller is. It’s not an attack.”