Russian man killed in shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea resort
The shoreline will remain off limits until Sunday with a ban on swimming, snorkeling and other water sports activities.
A Russian man has died after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Hurghada, a resort town on Egypt’s Red Sea.
The environment ministry said the man was killed on Thursday after being mauled by a tiger shark in the waters off Hurghada.
Authorities closed off a 74-kilometer (46-mile) stretch of coastline and announced it will remain off-limits until Sunday with a ban on swimming, snorkeling and other water sports activities.
“An attack by a tiger shark on a beachgoer… led to his death,” the ministry wrote on Facebook, without providing further details.
A video circulating online, purportedly of the attack, shows a man thrashing about in the water before being repeatedly attacked by a shark that circles around him and then dragged down.
The ministry later said it captured the shark and was examining it in a lab to try to determine the reasons for the rare attack.
The Russian consulate in Hurghada identified the man as a Russian citizen, but did not give his name.
Russian Consul General Viktor Voropayev told the state news agency TASS that Egyptian authorities had confirmed to him the death of the 1999-born Russian.
“The victim was not a tourist, but a permanent resident of Egypt,” Voropayev told the news agency.
A diver who arrived on scene just after the attack said people rushed to help the victim after a lifeguard from a nearby hotel raised the alarm but were unable to reach him in time.
History of shark attacks
Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, including Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, have some of the country’s most renowned beach destinations and are popular with European tourists. Divers are drawn to the steep slopes of coral reefs just offshore, which offer rich and colorful marine life.
Shark attacks are rare in the coastal areas of the Red Sea.
However, in 2022, there were two deadly attacks in Hurghada within days, killing an Austrian and a Romanian tourist.
In 2018, a Czech tourist was killed by a shark off a Red Sea beach. In 2015, a German tourist was killed in the same way.
In 2010, a spate of five attacks in five days unusually close to the coast of the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh killed a German and injured four other foreign tourists.