Footage has emerged of a great white shark bursting through a cage with a diver inside. The video, shot by Brian Forester on a trip to the Guadalupe Island off the coast of Mexico, shows the huge shark approaching the cage after being enticed with food as part of a tourist attraction.

After taking the bait, the predator can be seen thrashing about wildly in the sea before appearing to break right through the supposedly shark-proof cage.

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Several workers on the boat are visibly shaken and rush to open the top of the cage. After several seconds, the giant shark launches itself out of the water and swims away.

Stunned witnesses even ask "was there anybody in there?" after the shark escaped, before the diver emerges from the cage shaken but seemingly unharmed.

Describing the event on his YouTube channel on which he posted the video, Forester explains: "What might appear to be an aggressive great white shark trying to attack the cage, this is not the case.

"These awesome sharks are biting at large chunks of tuna tied to a rope. When a great white shark lunges and bites something, it is temporarily blinded. They also cannot swim backwards. So this shark lunged at the bait, accidentally hit the side of the cage, was most likely confused and not able to swim backwards, it thrust forward and broke the metal rail of the cage.

"There was a single diver inside the cage. He ended up outside the bottom of the cage, looking down on two great white sharks. The diver is a very experienced dive instructor, remained calm, and when the shark thrashed back outside the cage, the diver calmly swam back up and climbed out completely uninjured.

"The boat crew did an outstanding job, lifting the top of the cage, analysing the frenzied situation, and the shark was out after a few long seconds."