A Russian man in his 20s was fatally attacked by a shark on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The drama took place on a beach in the city of Hurghada on the shores of the Red Sea.
Very rare. While deadly shark attacks claim “only” a handful of lives worldwide each year, a young Russian man in his 20s was killed by a shark off the coast of the Egyptian Red Sea city of Hurghada on Thursday, June 8, authorities said.
“A shark attack on a man (…) resulted in his death,” Egypt’s Environment Ministry said on Facebook, without giving further details. Russian media said the victim was a Russian man in his 20s. On the side of the Russian authorities, Consul General Viktor Voropayev stated that “the victim was not a tourist, but a permanent resident of Egypt.”
Precedents in the Red Sea
In several videos circulating on social networks since Thursday showing the incident filmed from the beach, one person appears to be struggling to escape this horrific shark attack. Be careful if you decide to view these images, they might shock some people.
The Egyptian Environment Ministry later said the animal, a tiger shark, had been caught and the investigation found “abnormal behavior (…) that caused the incident”. And to state that swimming and water games in the area will be suspended for two days starting this Friday.
While the Red Sea is a major tourist destination in Egypt, sharks are not uncommon there, but rarely attack swimmers unless they exceed legal limits… Nevertheless, Le Figaro reminds us that in July 2022, two tourists, an Austrian and a Romanian, were killed by a shark near Hurghada. In 2018 a Czech tourist was killed by a shark off an Egyptian beach in the Red Sea, in 2015 a German and in 2010 a German woman.