Egypt: Female Tourist Loses Arm in Shark Attack After Mistaking Predator for Tuna
In a horrifying incident, a female tourist in Egypt lost her arm in a shark attack after allegedly mistaking the predator for a tuna fish. The tourist, believed to be from Alexandria, was swimming with a friend when she was bitten, resulting in her left arm being amputated.
After being rescued from the sea unconscious, she was immediately taken to the hospital. Her condition has been described as stable. Reports indicate that swimmers at Laguna Beach in Dahab initially misidentified the shark as a tuna. Video footage captured the dramatic moment of her rescue as she was swiftly transported to an ambulance.
Following the attack at the Dahab resort, located approximately 36 miles north of Sharm el-Sheikh, beachgoers hastily fled from the sea. Despite sightings, a two-hour search with harpoons failed to locate the shark.
As a precautionary measure, authorities closed the beach in South Sinai in the aftermath of the attack. It is worth noting that a shark had been spotted in the waters off Dahab in August, leading to a temporary swimming ban at that time. However, the ban has since been lifted.
This incident follows a tragic event in June when a Russian tourist named Vladimir Popov, 23, was fatally mauled by a tiger shark in Hurghada. There is speculation that he may have been attacked by the same predator responsible for previous fatal incidents involving tourists.
During the attack, witnesses watched in horror from the shore as the man was wounded and dragged underwater by the shark. His distraught girlfriend managed to escape. Popov had been residing in Egypt for several months with his father, who witnessed the fatal attack alongside him.
In July of the previous year, another shark attack occurred in front of horrified onlookers, resulting in the death of 68-year-old Austrian tourist Elisabeth Sauer. Just 15 minutes prior to the attack, English-speaking guests had alerted Egyptian lifeguards about the presence of sharks. On the same day, a second woman, identified as a Romanian national in her 40s, was believed to have been killed in a similar attack only 650 feet away. Her badly disfigured remains were discovered on a nearby reef.
