A Kiwi diver has captured terrifying footage of the moment she was forced to stab two aggressive sharks in the head with a knife after they swarmed her.
The woman was diving off the coast of Ascension Island near Brazil when she speared a tuna, the Daily Mail reports.
While she was reeling in her catch a pair of Galapagos sharks started circling, trying to steal it before turning on her.
The predators appeared to spook the tuna, which was still alive, and the woman became tangled in the speargun line as the fish tried to swim away frantically.
As she tried to surface the sharks started swimming directly at her.
She was forced to stab the sharks in self defence as they got close, and was then able to reel in the tangled tuna and scramble back on board the fishing boat with the help of friends.
She's not the first Kiwi to have a close encounter overseas.
Seven years ago a young Kiwi marine scientist's act of kindness to a trapped shark went badly wrong when the 2m predator turned on him in a frenzy.
Kydd Pollock was saved from possible death by his diving mask when the grey reef shark bit him three times in the face and on the head in a lagoon off Palmyra Atoll, in the Northern Pacific.
In 2000, an Auckland man on a honeymoon tour in Australia was killed after being attacked by a 5m shark while surfing at Cactus Beach.
In New Zealand there have been 12 recorded fatal shark attacks dating back to the 1850s and 50 non-fatal attacks.
Earlier this year a woman received moderate leg injuries after being attack in Curio Bay, Southland.
Footage from a phone swallowed by a tiger shark in the Bahamas has shown what it would be like to be eaten alive. Video / The Telegraph