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The Spartan Speaks

The Student News Site of Orono High School

The Spartan Speaks

The Student News Site of Orono High School

The Spartan Speaks

Sharks terrorize Egyptian Resort

Abbie Fiedler
Copy Editor

In the shimmering coral-rimmed Red Sea town of Sharm, a popular tourist destination, Sharm el-Sheikh Resort was struck with terror this winter when a series of unprecedented shark attacks took place off the resort’s beach.  According to Time, a team of U.S. scientists were rushed in to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attacks.

Tourists who swim in another creatures habitat should understand the possible risks. “I’d like to see tourists who come out here reminded that this is not a chlorinated pool they’re jumping into. It’s part of a natural environment,” said George Burgess, one of the three American experts assigned to unraveling the shark mystery .

“We’ve got two publics,” says Matthew Morrell, who is a British dive instructor at the Red Sea Diving College. “We’ve got the diving public” who, he said, know that sharks aren’t a huge threat. “And then, we’ve got the package tour public. They’re the kind of people who are coming here for a cheap vacation in the sun. When they hear ‘shark attack’ they immediately think that this is a dangerous place.”

CBS stated that the type of shark that attacked the victims was an oceanic white tip.  The shark reportedly mauled four Russian tourists, who were swimming close to shore,  in two separate attacks.   One victim, a middle-aged woman, had her hand bit off, while her legs and back were badly injured.  The second victim was a 70-year old woman who had her right hand and leg torn off.

Local diving instructor Hassan Salem said he was on a dive at the time of the same attack and was circled by the shark.  Salem said, “I was able to scare the shark away by blowing bubbles in its face, but then saw it swim to a woman and bite her legs.”

The other two victims were a Russian couple on vacation.  They were swimming in the Ras Nasranin area that’s right
next to the beaches of the Sharm el-Sheikh resort.  The Huffington Post reported that after the attacks, all four were flown to Cairo to receive medical attention; they were all in critical condition at the time.

According to The Daily Mail, coast guard authorities are hunting for the shark and have issued a warning for swimmers to stay out of the water in this famed diving destination.  Mohammed Salem, director of Sinai Conservation said, “Usually these kinds of sharks don’t attack human beings but sometimes they have trouble with their nervous system and they accidentally go after people.”

Egypt sees one to two fatal shark attacks a year and they increase as the number of tourists and swimmers in the water rises. The beaches were cleared about a week later and the water was deemed safe to go back into.

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