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Russian Tourist Killed in Gruesome Shark Attack at Egyptian Red Sea Resort
Edited by: TJVNews.com
A Russian citizen was killed in a shark attack near a beach at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, Russia’s Consulate General in the city and two Egyptian security sources said on Thursday, as was reported by Reuters.
A Russian tourist was killed in a rare shark attack at a beach near the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada. @DailyNewsEgypt @RedSeaGlobal #sharkattack @Russia pic.twitter.com/lT1xQ3AvkZ
— The Jewish Voice (@JewishVoice) June 8, 2023
Egypt’s Environment Ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook that a tiger shark was responsible for the death of a beachgoer, without giving details of the victim.
Reuters also reported that a team from the ministry and other authorities was able to capture the shark, the statement said, adding that local authorities had issued a ban on swimming, snorkelling and other water sports activities on several beaches near the attack site.
Authorities closed off a 74-kilometer (46-mile) stretch of the coastline, announcing it will remain off-limits until Sunday, according to a report on the ABC News web site. The ministry also said that it was examining the shark in a laboratory to try and determine the reasons for the rare attack. Shark attacks are rare in the Red Sea coastal regions. However, in 2022, two fatal attacks in Hughada within days, killing an Austrian and a Romanian tourist, ABC News reported.
A diver who arrived on the scene just after the attack said people had rushed to help the victim after a lifeguard from a nearby hotel raised the alarm, Reuters reported, but were not able to reach him in time.
Russia’s TASS news agency said the person killed was a Russian man born in 1999 who lived in Egypt full-time and was not a tourist, according to the report on the Reuters web site.
In a statement posted on its official channel on the Telegram messaging application, the consulate urged Russian tourists to be vigilant when in the water, Reuters reported, and to strictly adhere to any swimming bans imposed by local authorities.
A video circulating online, purportedly of the attack, shows a man thrashing about in the water before being repeatedly attacked by a shark circling around him, then being dragged under, ABC News also reported.
Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, including Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, boast some of the country’s most renowned beach destinations and are popular with European tourists, according to the ABC News report. Divers are attracted by the steep drop-offs of coral reefs just offshore, which offer a rich and colorful sea life.
Egypt has in recent years sought to revive the vital tourism sector, hurt by years of political instability, the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the ABC News report stated.
Tiger sharks are large species that reside in tropical and temperate waters and are among sharks most cited by the International Shark Attack File for unprovoked attacks on humans.
