2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks
Date | 1 – 5 December 2010 |
---|---|
Venue | Naama Bay |
Location | Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt |
Type | Shark attack |
Deaths | 1 |
Non-fatal injuries | 4 |
Suspects | 1 oceanic whitetip shark + 1 mako shark |
The 2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks were a series of attacks by sharks on swimmers off the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. On 1 December 2010, three Russians and one Ukrainian were seriously injured within minutes of each other, and, on 5 December 2010, a German woman was killed when she was attacked while wading and snorkeling in the shallows close to the shoreline. The attacks were described as "unprecedented" by shark experts.
In response to the attacks, beaches in the popular
Attacks
The first attacks occurred on 1 December, when four people were attacked within minutes of each other in the Ra's Nasrani area. 48-year-old Olga Martsinko suffered wounds to her hands and legs, lower back and buttock[citation needed] while 70-year-old Lyudmila Stolyarova lost her right hand and left leg. Both had to have their injured limbs partly amputated. A 54-year-old Russian man named Yevgeniy Trishkin suffered serious leg wounds, requiring a partial amputation, while 46-year-old Ukrainian Viktor Koliy also suffered leg injuries but was well enough to leave hospital the following day.[1][2][3]
Lyudmilla Stolyarova's husband Vladimir said: "I ran up to her and could hear her gasping 'Shark! Shark! Shark!' She somehow managed to push the shark away from her. The shark bit off her arm, but she managed to swim closer to the shore. Before she got out of the water, the shark attacked again and bit off her foot."[1] Other witnesses described the attack on Olga Martynenko. "The woman managed to swim to the pier, but when people on the pier started pulling her out of the water, the shark bit off the woman's left buttock," one said. "She lost a lot of blood. There were tourists on the pier, and they helped to pull the woman out. Some of them were slapping the shark off with rubber fins. There were no rescuers on the pier during the moment when it all happened. A rescuer was running up to us from afar. There were neither cords, nor stretchers at hand. We used a swimsuit to block the blood flow from the gaping wound and grabbed a sun bed to carry the woman to the shore."[1]
The attacks on the two men were witnessed from the shore. A barman witnessed one of the victims "running from the sea with blood streaming from gashes in his leg." The other male victim had to be rescued by members of a local diving centre. According to the barman, "the sea went red ... [his foot] was gone".[4]
In response, officials closed the beaches and suspended all diving and watersports activities. Specialists from the Egyptian environment ministry were called in to investigate the incidents and caught a 2.25 metres (7.4 ft)-long oceanic whitetip shark weighing 150 kilograms (330 lb) that was claimed to be the one responsible for the attacks. The shark was "identified" by a local diver who claimed to have recognized the fish by its damaged fin.[citation needed] A mako shark that was 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) long and weighed 250 kilograms (550 lb) was also caught.[5] However, divers and conservationists said the captured sharks were not the same as the one that had been seen and photographed in the area shortly before the attacks.[6]
The attacks had a drastic effect on the local tourist industry. Mohamed Rashad, a bartender at the al-Bahr beach restaurant who was working at the time of the attack, said: "All the people ran away back to the hotel, no one wanted to stay on the beach. Now it's very quiet. People are scared to come to the beach. They are just coming to the bar to have a drink. They don't even want to stay on the sunbeds."[4]
The Egyptian authorities reopened the beaches on 4 December following the capture of the sharks. The following day, 5 December, 71-year-old German tourist Renata Seifert, who had visited the resort for 11 years, was killed by a
Following the attacks, watersports activities were again suspended, though it was expected that scuba diving—which is considered to be at far less risk from shark attacks—would soon be allowed to resume. The Egyptian authorities engaged international shark experts to assess the situation and propose a solution.[9] The Egyptian ministry of tourism also announced the injured tourists would each be offered $50,000 in compensation, paid for by the local tourist industry.[10] The attacks were widely described as "unprecedented" both in media reports and by
Possible causes
Sharks are commonly seen near Sharm El Sheikh but attacks on humans are very rare, particularly by the two species implicated in the 2010 attacks. Only nine attacks by
The chairman of the Sharm El Sheikh Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) suggested that attacks might have been due to
Other hypotheses for the shark attacks include that cattle ships transporting sheep for slaughter during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on 16 November dumped sheep carcasses into the Red Sea, bringing sharks unusually close to the shoreline. Unscrupulous diving companies were also blamed for feeding sharks to attract them for their clients.[17]
On 9 December 2010, an international team of experts announced that it had found that two species—
Conspiracy theory about Israeli involvement
The attacks also sparked conspiracy theories about possible Israeli involvement. Egyptian television broadcast claims from
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Russian tourists lose arms and legs in shark attack in Egypt". Pravda, 3 December 2010
- ^ "Russians injured by sharks in stable condition". ITAR-TASS, 3 December 2010
- ^ "Ukrainian attacked by shark in Egypt discharged from hospital". Kyiv Post, 2 December 2010
- ^ a b Sherwood, Harriet. "Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks leave beaches deserted". The Guardian, 3 December 2010
- ^ a b "Sharks suspected in Egypt tourist attacks nabbed[dead link]". The Associated Press, 2 December 2010
- ^ "Shark attack kills German tourist at resort in Egypt". BBC News, 5 December 2010
- ^ When Sharks Attack – Red Terror. National Geographic (Television production). NGC Network. 23 July 2020. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
- ^ a b Sherwood, Harriet. "Sharm el-Sheikh tourist killed in new shark attack". The Guardian, 5 December 2010
- ^ "Swimming death escalates attacks crisis Archived 9 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine". Divernet, 6 December 2010
- ^ Sharm el-Sheikh: scientists give initial findings on shark attacks". The Guardian, 9 December 2010
- ^ "Egypt resort reopens some beaches after shark attack". Associated Press, 9 December 2010
- Archive-It". Agence France-Presse, 5 December 2010
- ^ Cousteau, Jacques-Yves; Cousteau, Philippe (1970). The Shark: Splendid Savage of the Sea. Doubleday & Company, Inc.
- ISBN 0869890085. Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 September 2013.
- ^ Martin, R. Aidan. "Elasmo Research". ReefQuest. Archived from the original on 6 February 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2006.
- ^ "ISAF Statistics on Attacking Species of Shark". Flmnh.ufl.edu. 20 May 2009. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 5 July 2010.
- ^ Scholl, Michael C. "Sharm el-Sheikh deaths: Don't blame the sharks". Channel 4 News, 9 December 2010
- ^ "Diving continues as experts investigate Archived 17 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine". Divernet, 9 December 2010
- ^ Yolande Knell (7 December 2010). "Shark attacks not linked to Mossad says Israel". BBC News. Archived from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
- ^ Yasmine Fathi (6 December 2010). "Expert shoots down conspiracy theory blaming Israel for shark attacks". Al-Ahram. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
- ^ "Egypt to reopen beaches after deadly shark attack". Reuters. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010.