Shark Attack in Hurghada: Concerns, Controversy, and Calls for Action in Egypt

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The death of a Russian youth in a shark attack in the Egyptian city of Hurghada sparked widespread controversy on Twitter, Thursday, amid a call by Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris not to circulate the video of the incident and a message from Alaa Mubarak due to the “repeated” attacks. Shark to humans near beaches in Egypt.

And the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement: “Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, directed the work team specialized in managing the shark attack incident on one of the pioneers of Hurghada beaches, to implement all the policies applied globally to achieve the highest levels of safety for visitors to the Red Sea beaches and to take all possible measures to avoid The shark attack happened again.

And the ministry continued: “In light of the observed abnormal behaviors of the shark that caused the accident and the fact that previous incidents of attacks on humans by this type of shark occurred previously, the specialized work team caught the fish that caused the accident to examine it to find out the possible reasons for its attack and clarify Whether it is the same fish that caused the previous incidents.”

The Egyptian Environment added its statement by saying: “In this regard, the specialized work team at the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with other competent authorities, succeeded in controlling the fish that caused the accident, and it was transferred to the laboratory for examination and to complete all the required information to determine the possible causes of the attack…. This, and it will be issued. On behalf of the Ministry of Environment, a statement of what the fish inspection work ended upon its completion.

The Russian embassy in Egypt issued a statement on its official Facebook page, confirming the death of the Russian youth from a shark attack, and calling on Russian tourists to abide by safety instructions while swimming.

For his part, Sawiris wrote on Twitter: “Exchanging the Hurghada incident video is a despicable, offensive and harmful act. Please stop.”

The son of the late Egyptian president, Alaa Mubarak, commented on the incident, saying: “Shark attack incidents have been repeated in the waters of the Red Sea over the past years, the latest of which was today’s unfortunate incident in Hurghada, where a shark attacked a Russian tourist, which led to his death instantly.”

And Mubarak added, “I have been practicing diving since 1987, and I saw sharks several times during diving, which rarely attack divers, but the danger comes when they swim on the surface of the water. To attract fish, this attracts and changes the behavior of the shark. Also, high temperatures and climate change have an impact on the behavior of the shark. I think one of the most important reasons is the open and left fishing process without any restrictions, and this reduces the fish stock, so the shark heads towards the beach to search for alternative food. .

And the son of the late Egyptian president continued, saying: “By the way, the solution is not that we rejoice and humiliate the killing of the shark that caused the accident, because the sea is full of sharks. May God protect them all.”