03 July 2023 , 20:38
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When Steven Spielberg's smash hit 'Jaws' came out in 1975, it sparked widespread panic in beachgoers nationwide who started to fear shark attacks.
But while their fears may not have been based in facts or statistics — the likelihood of a shark attack is about one in 3.75 million, according to National Geographic — people are still occasionally devoured by the ocean predators.
That's exactly what a shark expert believes may have happened to 18-year-old baseball star Cameron Robbins.
And he wasn't gobbled up by any shark, either, Kevin McMurray said — he was likely eaten by a tiger shark, as seen in 'Jaws.'
Cameron Robbins was on a high school graduation trip when he jumped overboard from a cruise ship in the Bahamas (Facebook)McMurray operates trackingsharks.com, a website that collects statistics and people's stories on worldwide shark attacks and bites.
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Robbins jumped off a boat in the Bahamas during a high school graduation trip on May 24 and subsequently disappeared, sparking a two-day-long manhunt that ultimately ended unsuccessfully.
"There are a lot of tiger sharks there, and they'll scavenge," McMurray told The Mirror. "They're the ones on Jaws that had the license plate tag in their stomach, so they'll eat anything. It's always possible that he could have been consumed, after the fact."
There has been a lot of debate as to what happened in Cameron's final moments after he jumped off the Blackbeard's Revenge sunset pirate cruise.
"Either he sank or a shark ate his body, that's possible," Kevin said.
"It's always possible [that sharks could attack]," he added.
"My guess is that if something like that did occur, maybe a single bite or something like that, more than likely, again you can't say because anything's possible, but exposure would probably be what I think would have occurred and he may have died of that.
If Cameron's body was, in fact, consumed by a shark Kevin said "it is possible" there could be remains left.
Kevin McMurray postulates that Cameron Robbins may have been devoured by a shark (Kevin McMurray)
Fellow passengers captured what could have been Cameron's final moments in chilling video footage (Reddit/QuietWest3764)"But," he said, "recovering it would be nearly impossible. Something like that, you're talking about a massive search area with currents and all that."
Cameron had graduated just days earlier from the University Lab School in Baton Rouge, and was on a graduation trip with dozens of classmates as well as students from other Baton Rouge schools.
The students were staying in Nassau, with Cameron and other students from U-High arriving in the Bahamas just hours before going on the boating excursion which would see Cameron's final moments.
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Fellow high school graduates on the trip filmed the moment the teen from Louisiana jumped into the dark waters, without a life jacket, reportedly as a dare.
"At the beginning of it, it looks like there is a shark or something," Kevin said.
"He's in the water and over to the left you can see it.
"So my analysis, what I think happened is, he got in the water and he was swimming around, the shark, for some reason, or whatever it is - I'm not for sure saying it is a shark, but it looks a lot like a shark - essentially it comes and surfaces and there's a life ring out to his right.
Cameron Robbins was a teen baseball star (Family Handout)"So he's looking at whatever popped up out of the water, and instead of swimming toward the life ring he turns around at that point. I think all that splashing we see is just him trying to get away from whatever it is."
The US Coast Guard searched alongside the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to try and track down the teen, covering more than 325 square miles in their search for him.
However, despite their best efforts, Cameron was not found and the search was called off two days later on Friday, May 26.
Having analysed the footage of the last time Cameron was seen alive, Kevin said: "After I watched the video a bunch of different times, you can actually see him going underneath the netting [on the ship].
"So a lot of people are actually saying he was attacked by a shark right where you see all the splashes, but I think that's just him kicking, and I think he's getting away from it.
"But I think he's still alive and not attacked by a shark at this point on the video, that we can see. Some of the things you think you would hear is him screaming, yelling for help.
Cameron Robbins was a recent high school graduate (Facebook)"There is a lot of noise on the boat, but he didn't appear to do any of those things... I don't think anybody will ever be able to tell a hundred per cent what happened, but I really don't see any shark attack or bite on camera."
After Cameron jumped into the water in swimming trunks with no life vest, bystanders can be heard saying: "This kid f*****g jumped off!"
As Cameron began to drift away from the boat, another passenger can be heard saying: "Oh my f*****g god. Oh, shut the f**k up. Oh bye... bye... Oh... s**t!"
Realising things are looking precarious one passenger shouts: "Grab the buoy... grab the buoy!"
While those in the background of the video can be heard shouting, one of the main things which stood out to Kevin was the lack of noise coming from Cameron.
He said: "I'm surprised that he wasn't yelling or doing anything like that, that's one of the shocking things that you would think somebody that was overboard that wanted to get up would do.
"I did think too maybe he was used to being on regular boats - usually there's a ladder at the back part of the boat, so I originally thought that's what he was trying to do, swim behind the boat.
Tiger sharks are known to scavenge, says shark expert Kevin McMurray (Getty Images/Image Source)"In the footage you can see the cameraman go from one side of the boat to the other to look for him like he expects him to swim to the other side."
The area where Cameron went overboard is home to tiger and bull sharks, which are among the more aggressive shark species.
While Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Raymond King called the waters "really shark infested", Kevin explained that the sharks are actually drawn to boats.
"Think about that boat," he said.
"There's flashing lights, there's sound, the vibration, and you'll see a lot of boats, like fishermen especially down in Florida and the Bahamas and stuff, they have an issue with pulling fish in and the sharks just hitting them.
"A lot of times what happens is the sharks have this learned behaviour, when they hear the boat motor it's like 'Hey, let's go along and follow it'.... So it's definitely a common occurrence to have sharks around boats like that.
"Is it shark-infested? I don't know if there's any place that's really shark-infested, you know, they live there."
He continued: "Really, sharks aren't that big of a threat in most cases; they do their thing and they'll leave us alone. If you're fishing, different story because now they're looking to eat.
"If you do get in the water with a shark, keep an eye on the shark. If it attacks you, fight, punch.
"A lot of people say to punch the nose, but what ends up happening is the shark's mouth, if you punch the shark on its nose your hand can go right into its mouth.
"So what you do is you go for the eyes and the gills and push down, so that you push the shark away - down and away."