Shark breeding season is the cause of recent attacks in the Red Sea in the Sahl Hasheesh region, which killed two tourists, said a commission of specialists from the Red Sea Protected Area and the Association for the Protection and Protection of the Environment in Hurghada, quoted by Al-Ahram.
According to an eight-page report prepared by the commission, both attacks were carried out by the same tiger shark. In early July, a 68-year-old Austrian woman died from her injuries at Nile Hospital in the resort of Hurghada after being attacked by a shark. The body of the second victim, a Romanian national, was discovered the next day as commissioners were investigating the first incident, believed to have preceded the Austrian tourist.
According to experts, the shark was in shallow water during the mating and spawning season, which lasts from mid-April to late July. Predatory fish, probably looking for food.
The Egyptian authorities closed the beaches in the area and banned all water sports. It is not yet clear when the restriction will be lifted.
Al-Ahram noted that shark attacks in Egypt’s Red Sea coastal region have been rare in recent years. In 2020, a boy from Ukraine lost his arm and an Egyptian lost his leg. In 2018, a Czech tourist was killed by a shark, and in 2015, a German vacationer fell victim to a predatory fish.
The report cites several of the main causes of shark attacks in the Red Sea. These include overfishing and overuse of diving sites, as this deprives the sharks of their usual feeding grounds and they seek new places, sometimes offshore and in shallow waters.