Sharks in Egypt!

[gordonpym]

look at this www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/red-sea-shark-alert-after-swimmers-are-savaged-2148508.html
Sharm is no more so attractive!

I just got back from there two days before the first attack! I only went snorkelling once (it makes me feel sick and a bit panicky) but DH went every day and was laughing at me for not wanting to go too far out from the pontoon!

About three days before we came home I overheard two English couples booking a day out at sea on a private charter boat, so they could snorkel out at sea rather than near the coast. One of them jokily said to the rep 'There are no sharks out there are there?'

She said 'Oh, no. The diving trainers all say they they've been here 20 years and they've only ever seen small vegetarian sharks.'

I bet those people's bowels have gone a bit loose at the thought of what they did now.

how awful for those people that were attacked
must be rare though - sharks don't usually attack people like that do they?

Apparently some Australian cargo ships shipping livestock over to Egypt for Eid sacrifices have been illegally tipping the carcasses of dead sheep that don't make the journey over the edge. They are getting washed up on shore which is attracting the sharks closer in. Nice to know I could have been swimming amongst dead sheep.

It sounds like one shark which has learnt to attack humans for whatever reason - there are some diving practises that encourage sharks to see humans as prey - while the diver is safe in a cage. I don;t know if that happens in the Red Sea. I've only been snorkeling in the Red Sea.

really belgo? that's terrible

Sharks are a huge draw for tourists. But of course divers want to be safe as well. Human activity could be influencing sharks behaviour.

Shark attacks are very rare, divers are much more likely to die from lack of skill, then to be attacked by a shark.

Someone on the radio just said 'I wonder how many people die at the hands of Sharm Taxi drivers' and having experienced them, I'd say he has a very fair point!

There's no cage diving in the red sea. Sharks are fairly common but don't normally attack like this.

Like previous poster has mentioned the dead sheep dumping is a theory for having attractd the sharks this close to shore. Also tourists stand in waist deep water and feed the fish sausages and bread. People on some diving forums are wondering if this has contributed. I'm not sure a shark would be tempted inshore by a sausage though. I did get badly bitten by a 2ft parrot fish last month at the same beach that the tourist was killed at. Some bloke by the side of me started feeding the fish and we were mobbed!

After the first couple of attacks the diving/beaches were closed. A shark was killed and the authorities said they'd killed the right one and everything was open again. Some Belgium divers were then seriously hunted by a white tip shark, they scrambled onto a reef and the shark circled them for ages trying to reach them. The authorities still wouldn't have it that the rogue shark was out there and the next day the German tourist was killed.

Scary stuff.

If you've ever seen an Egyptian buffet sausage NO-ONE not even a starking shark would be tempted.

starving - sorry

Viva - I've seen nasty diving injuries from rays and another fish - the one which has a coned shaped territory and attacks anything in the territory. Is that the parrot fish?

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=www.itsallaboutfish.co.uk/Pictures/Parrot_Fish.JPG&imgrefurl=www.itsallaboutfish.co.uk/parrot_fish.htm&h=375&w=500&sz=218&tbnid=sV2gqHrY9PGe3M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dparrot%2Bfish&zoom=1&q=parrot+fish&hl=en&usg=__1F3GbfCVCJFiHIXXXN1vKvZ5KJ8=&sa=X&ei=zvL8TJvYMcyAhAeAyaWbCw&ved=0CCoQ9QEwAQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">parrot fish