Great white shark captured on video in Mediterranean Sea in “insane” sighting

A great white shark has been recorded in the Mediterranean Sea in what some divers believe to be the first underwater video of the species in the body of water. The Mediterranean is a known habitat of great whites, but sightings are extremely rare and usually happen near the surface.

Derk Remmers, a volunteer diver for the Ghost Diving organization, filmed the animal during a dive off the Strait of Sicily. He told CBS News’ partner network BBC that “the shark was pretty close to us … and in fact my fingers were trembling when I was trying to get the camera operating.”

In a separate statement he called spotting the shark offshore in the Mediterranean “insane.”

Remmers was participating in a mission organized by the Healthy Seas foundation to remove abandoned fishing nets and equipment from biodiversity hotspots underwater. The organization says it had documented animals, including sea turtles, trapped in abandoned fishing gear at the site on previous dives.

“Statistically, it is way more likely to win the lotto jackpot than to meet such an iconic animal underwater. You spend decades diving wrecks and removing ghost nets, but nothing prepares you for a moment like this,” Remmers said in a statement.

He said the encounter reminded him of the importance of protecting sea life from threats such as overfishing and abandoned fishing gear.

Since 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has qualified the great white shark as “critically endangered” in the Mediterranean Sea.