Female tourist loses arm in shark attack on popular Red Sea beach ‘after swimmers mistook the predator for a tuna’
- In June, a Russian tourist was mauled to death by a tiger shark in Hurghada
A tourist in Egypt lost an arm in a horrific shark attack after mistaking the predator for a tuna.
The female tourist from Alexandria had to have her left arm amputated after she was brutally bitten while swimming with a friend.
She was rescued unconscious from the sea and later hospitalized. Her condition was later described as ‘stable’.
According to reports, swimmers at Laguna Beach in Dahab initially mistook a shark for a tuna.
Video showed the dramatic moment of her rescue from the beach as she was rushed to an ambulance.
Beachgoers fled the sea after the attack on the Dahab resort, about 58 kilometers north of Sharm el-Sheikh.
The woman was filmed being carried away from the beach and was later taken to hospital
The woman was taken from the beach of Egypt’s popular Red Sea resort
According to reports, a two-hour harpoon search for the shark failed to locate the animal despite sightings.
The beach in southern Sinai was closed by authorities after the attack.
A shark was spotted prowling the waters of the Egyptian resort of Dahab in August, prompting a temporary swimming ban at the time, but it had since reopened.
The attack on the woman follows an incident in June when Russian tourist Vladimir Popov, 23, was mauled to death by a tiger shark in Hurghada.
One theory is that he was killed by a predator that had also fatally attacked tourists a year earlier.
Tourists watched in horror from the shore as the beast injured the man before dragging him underwater. His distraught girlfriend managed to escape.
The tourist was in Egypt for a long stay and had moved to a resort with his father a few months ago.
His father watched in horror as the fatal attack, which was also filmed from the coast.
File image shows a Caribbean reef shark. The woman in Egypt lost her arm after the attack
A two-hour search of the area (photo) failed to turn up the search, even after reported sightings
In July last year, 68-year-old Austrian Elisabeth Sauer was attacked in front of shocked onlookers – 15 minutes after English-speaking guests warned Egyptian lifeguards about sharks
A second woman – newly identified as a Romanian citizen in her 40s – is believed to have been killed in a similar attack just 200 meters away from where Sauer died, with her severely disfigured remains found on a nearby reef the same day.