Captured Shark Under Examination: Experts Investigate Motive behind Fatal Attack near Hurghada
- Özgür Töre
According to Egypt's Environment Ministry, the shark responsible for the death of a Russian individual near the town of Hurghada in the Egyptian Red Sea has been captured.
Marine experts are currently examining the shark to determine a potential motive for the attack.
According to the ministry, a female tiger shark was identified as the perpetrator of Thursday's attack.
Reports indicated that the shark had been observed swimming near the water's surface in shallow areas before the incident occurred. While some experts criticized the decision to capture and kill the shark, officials suggested that it may have been a pregnant shark seeking a secure location to deliver its offspring when it attacked the 24-year-old Russian individual.
Authorities ordered all water activities suspended for 48 hours from Friday morning along a 60km stretch from the resort of El Gouna all the way south to Soma Bay.
Shark Attacks in Egypt
As the nation gears up for an exceptionally successful tourism season, talk-show hosts supportive of the government attempted to downplay the incident's importance. Sharif Amer, a host, pointed out that prior to Thursday's incident, Egypt had documented only 22 shark attacks in over a century.
In July 2022, two women, one Austrian and one Romanian lost their lives in separate occurrences located to the south of Hurghada. Additionally, in 2020, a Ukrainian boy experienced the loss of an arm, while a local tour guide lost a leg due to shark attacks. Furthermore, in 2018, a Czech tourist was fatally attacked by a shark on a Red Sea beach, following a similar incident three years earlier where a German tourist lost their life.
Another series of shark attacks took place in 2010, resulting in the death of one European tourist and causing severe injuries to several others in Sharm El Sheikh, situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula across the Red Sea from Hurghada.
According to a high-ranking official from the Environment Ministry, the ministry has obtained 60 tracking devices that will be affixed to sharks in the waters near well-visited resort areas. This measure aims to enable experts to observe the sharks' activities closely and ascertain the factors that lead to their attacks on humans.
