The old Jaws line goes, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”… but it was a bigger forklift that was needed when a massive 24-foot shark washed up on the UK coast!
While this may sound like a scene straight out of The Meg… Sunday’s shark incident is anything but fictional, as the carcass of a basking shark washed up on Maidens Beach in Scotland.
However, the sea creature’s body was seen moving in the water before falling onto the sand, so several onlookers were convinced the animal was still alive.
Many eyewitnesses initially mistook it for a whale – the basking shark is the second largest living fish – and British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme were called to the scene.
A bather asked for help and said: What is Jam? …she herself entered the water to determine whether the creature was alive or dead.
She added: “I wanted to try and help him if he was alive and struggling, so I put on a wetsuit and went into the water to check.”
It didn’t take long for Yolanda to realize the shark was dead, noticing the creature was wrapped in a long rope and had its tail in its mouth. She theorized that the shark died while trying to free itself… a sad scene indeed.
After rescue teams arrived on the scene, a forklift was brought to the beach to help transport the dead shark.
While the situation was probably scary to onlookers, basking sharks are actually harmless. Despite their enormous size and large jaws, they only eat plankton.