The incident took place off the coast of Guadalupe, Mexico, where photographer and videographer Jalil Najafov, 39, from Azerbaijan, decided to go swimming with two great whites.

The footage was filmed in November 2018 but Jalil shared it on Instagram at the end of June this year, where it has since gone viral with over 32,000 views so far.

He decided to release the footage ahead of Shark Awareness Day, held internationally on 14 July, to raise awareness of these powerful and important animals.

In the clip, two magnificent great white sharks suddenly emerge from the dark depths of the ocean, nearing the thrill-seeking videographer.

One predator effortlessly glides past the water straight towards him, getting nail-bitingly closer to Jalil – before turning left and hitting his camera with a thump.

A second and less curious great white swims down below.

Daredevil Jalil has spent the past five years travelling the world to catch these amazing animals in their natural habitat and his videos clearly strike a chord, with shell-shocked viewers mesmerised.

“Bro like how. This is my nightmares,” wrote one person.

"This is so epic. So worth waiting until the end for that tail slap," added a second person.

"Yikes," somebody commented, while another person simply wrote "Wow".

The video even caught the attention of tech giant GoPro, which commented with three sweating emoticons.

“I have travelled to many countries to dive and shoot sharks in their habitats," Jalil told Jam Press.

“White sharks are my favourite sharks and Mexico is the best place to see them.

"The visibility is amazing and you can see them clearly."

Speaking of the viral footage, he added: “That day I spent about five hours underwater while filming sharks, my last dive was for two hours and I was lucky to film this moment.

“I smiled when I saw the shark and I thought: ‘I have captured the most amazing shark slap ever,’ the camera couldn’t show you the reality of that but it was really amazing.

“My job is amazing, I do what I love."

Jalil's work, which he regularly posts on Instagram, has gained him over 116,000 followers (@jalilnajafov) and he hopes to raise awareness for sharks to stop the animals being hunted.

He added: A reason I started shooting sharks is that over one hundred million sharks are killed every year for their fins.

“We must stop this and educate the next generation so they know how important sharks are to the ocean ecosystem and how important the ocean is to our planet.

“The more attention we can draw to sharks, the better for sharks.

“I am not sure how long shark finning can be continued for.

“There is no ocean without sharks and no oxygen without the ocean. So by saving sharks, we save the planet.”