An oceanic whitetip shark has been spotted repeatedly near the shores of the Red Sea in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, causing alarm among tourists.
Divers and snorkelers first spotted the shark a few days ago, calmly swimming underwater accompanied by striped pilot fish. The predator was successfully driven further into the sea with the help of boats.
The next day, the shark returned closer to the beach, frightening tourists. As a result, the administrations of three hotels where the gray predator was seen were forced to temporarily close their beaches and prohibit swimming.
While shark attacks on humans are rare, there have been several incidents of marine predator attacks on people in Egypt in recent years. Most of these cases have ended tragically. However, the reasons for such animal behavior vary.
It was established that in December 2010, when a tiger shark bit several tourists in Sharm El-Sheikh, killing three of them, the predators were attracted to the coast by the blood and carcasses of animals thrown from barges passing through the Red Sea. During the breeding season, when sharks swim into calm bays to reproduce and protect their offspring, they can also become aggressive due to the noise of boat engines. At least two incidents of shark attacks on tourists in Hurghada occurred for this reason; last year, a Russian citizen died.
It is estimated that the chance of a person being attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million, and the chance of dying from such an attack is 1 in 264.1 million. On average, only a few cases of human deaths from shark bites are recorded worldwide each year. At the same time, people kill 100 million sharks annually.
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