Terrifying moment diver suffers near-death experience when great white shark smashes through his cage

A diver came close to death after a great white shark burst into his cage while recording a documentary.

Most of us are well aware of the risks of encountering dangerous animals when swimming off the coast of idyllic beaches.

While most of us would shy away from putting ourselves within the jaws of death, there's always a brave soul who willing to put themselves in harm's way - all in the name of discovery.

This is the exact situation that expert shark diver Jimi Partington found himself in when filming a particularly risky research stunt for Discovery documentary Great White Open Ocean.

Watch the terrifying footage below:

Originally released in 2022, the doc follows Partington's journey back into the ocean after a near death experience in 2020 - however the diver's research quickly led him into another death defying situation.

For the experiment, Partington wanted to test out a theory that great whites are more aggressive in the ocean - and decided to test it out by lying in the sea in a plexiglass box.

"Jimi had this theory that great whites might be more aggressive offshore, where their food sources are scarce," Shark Week filmmaker Jeff Kurr of the experiment.

“And to prove his theory, he actually wanted to jump in with a Great White shark in open ocean.”

Animal behaviourist Brandon McMillan, who Partington was shooting the documentary with, recalled that the experiment was pretty 'monotonous' for around an hour before the terrifying encounter went down.

The moment the shark pounced. (Discovery Channel)

In the clip Partington can be seen nervously observing the shark as it swam close to the cage and 'deliberately' hitting the sides.

"I’ve already had two bumps now that have been pretty deliberate," he said, observing their behaviour.

"They look like they’re getting a little bit more fired up."

The shark then charged towards the cage and clamped down on the plexiglass, crunching it apart with its razor sharp teeth.

Partington was left panicked by the situation, scrambling onto the remains of the cage before making a beeline for the boat.

Miraculously, the diver managed to walk away from the encounter without any physical injuries - but was left with PTSD in the following months.

Revealing how the attack had left him shaken up, Partington said he had experienced ‘every emotion’, while McMillan added the diver had told him he'd had ‘nightmares’ of the incident.

Partington wanted to examine whether great whites would be more aggressive further out to sea. (Discovery Channel)

However, Partington remained spurred on by his love for the apex predator, adding that he was happy to take risks in order to 'push the boundaries of our shark knowledge'.

PTSD and near death experiences with sharks aren't the only setbacks Partington has faced other the years either, with the diver's last post on Instagram, shared back in August 2022, detailing that he was still in recovery after suffering a stroke.