The wife of the man who fell victim to a shark attack earlier this week has shared his poignant final moments before his tragic passing.
Chilling video footage captured from Hadera beach in northwest Israel shows bystanders witnessing a man struggle with a predator in the water before vanishing from sight.
As the attack occurred on April 21, frantic calls were made to authorities by the public, reporting that someone was ‘bitten’ and ‘screaming’.
Following an exhaustive search by authorities in the surrounding waters, it was grimly confirmed on April 22 that human remains had been located.
Police, along with the victim’s wife, confirmed the deceased was Barak Tzach, a 45-year-old father of four from Petah Tikva.
In an effort to dispel harmful rumors, his grieving wife, Sarit Tzach, has shared details about his final moments.
On Facebook, she stated that Tzach had entered the Mediterranean waters with snorkeling equipment and an underwater camera.
She explained that he was an experienced swimmer and wanted to ‘dive and document the sharks’.
The waters near Hadera are known to be visited by endangered dusky and sandbar sharks. While these sharks are generally not aggressive toward humans, they can become disturbed by the presence of swimmers.
Problems arise as more visitors flock to the area, with some attempting to touch or feed the predators.
Authorities have cautioned against swimming with these wild animals and have imposed a swimming ban on the beach, but it seems to have been ineffective.
Sarit mentioned that her husband previously swam in that particular area while maintaining a safe 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.”
She insisted that her husband would ‘gently’ use his camera stick to push the sharks away and create some ‘distance’, with a fisherman verifying that Tzach had no intention of feeding, provoking, or touching the animals.
In a devastating turn, Tzach was cautiously swimming away from the sharks when he was fatally attacked.
She said: “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.”
Subsequent to the attack, a police spokesperson advised the public to ‘avoid entering the water and coming into contact with the sharks’.