Shark kills Czech tourist swimming in Red Sea at popular Egyptian resort
Hotels have received no instructions to restrict access to beaches
A CZECH tourist has been killed in a shark attack off the coast of an Egyptian Red Sea resort, the first such incident in the country since 2015.
The man was swimming off the beach in Marsa Allam on Friday when the shark struck, a Czech foreign ministry official told The Daily Telegraph.
Local media reported that only some of his remains washed up on shore.
The 41-year-old tourist was holidaying with his family in the popular Red Sea tourist destination. They have since returned home and are waiting for his remains, the Czech official said.
A local newspaper, Al-mal, reported that Egypt’s environment ministry, which would take part in investigating such attacks, had posted, then promptly deleted, a statement on its Facebook page, sharing details of the incident.
Samah Abdo, an environment ministry official, refused to comment or confirm whether the ministry had issued then retracted a statement.
Egyptian authorities are especially sensitive about any threat to the tourism industry, which is picking up again after terrorism devastated the sector.
A hotel receptionist in Marsa Allam told The Telegraph that tourists were still free to swim in the sea, and that they had received no instructions to restrict access to beaches.
General Atef Wagdy, the city council chairman, said “there is no danger in diving”, though he added that people swimming on the surface in deep waters beyond the coral reefs could be vulnerable to attack.
A German woman was killed in the 2015 shark attack.
Egypt’s worst spate of shark attacks took place in 2010, when what was believed to have been oceanic whitetip sharks attacked five tourists in a week, killing one.
The slow-swimming shark, which can reach up to 4m long, is common in the Red Sea. The species is not as infamous as its larger cousins the great white and tiger sharks, but it is believed to have killed hundreds of people after shipwrecks.