The 2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks were a series of incidents involving sharks attacking swimmers off the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. These attacks had a significant impact on the local tourism industry and prompted investigations into their causes.
Map of Sharm El Sheikh.
Timeline of the Attacks
On December 1, 2010, four people were attacked within minutes of each other in the Ra's Nasrani area.
- Olga Martsinko: Suffered wounds to her hands, legs, lower back, and buttock.
- Lyudmila Stolyarova: Lost her right hand and left leg, requiring partial amputation of the injured limbs.
Witnesses described the harrowing scenes of the attacks, with tourists and rescuers attempting to help the victims. One witness recounted how the shark bit off a woman's buttock as people tried to pull her out of the water. Another described a man "running from the sea with blood streaming from gashes in his leg."
On December 5, 2010, a German woman was killed while wading and snorkeling in the shallows close to the shoreline.
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Immediate Response
In response to the attacks, officials took the following actions:
- Beaches were closed.
- All diving and watersports activities were suspended.
- Specialists from the Egyptian environment ministry were called in to investigate the incidents.
- A 2.25 metres (7.4 ft)-long oceanic whitetip shark weighing 150 kilograms (330 lb) was caught and claimed to be the one responsible for the attacks.
The Egyptian authorities reopened the beaches on December 4 following the capture of the sharks. Following the attacks, watersports activities were again suspended, though it was expected that scuba diving-which is considered to be at far less risk from shark attacks-would soon be allowed to resume.
Impact on Tourism
The attacks had a drastic effect on the local tourist industry. As one bartender noted, "All the people ran away back to the hotel, no one wanted to stay on the beach. Now it's very quiet. People are scared to come to the beach. They are just coming to the bar to have a drink."
Possible Causes and Theories
A variety of theories were proposed to explain the attacks, including:
- Overfishing in the Red Sea: Causing increased hunger and aggression in the sharks.
- Illegal Feeding: The illegal, intentional, or inadvertent feeding of fish close to shore, which produces scents that attract sharks.
- Dumping of Animal Carcasses: The illegal dumping of animal carcasses by cargo boats in nearby waters, which may have caused a behavioural change in sharks.
- High Temperatures: Unusually high temperatures around southern Sinai may also have encouraged sharks to move into shallower waters, creating the ideal conditions for a tragic encounter with holidaymakers enjoying the sea.
- Cattle Ships: Cattle ships transporting sheep for slaughter during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on 16 November dumped sheep carcasses into the Red Sea, bringing sharks unusually close to the shoreline.
According to the preliminary findings of scientists investigating the tourism disaster, a deadly combination of overfishing, illegal waste dumping and irresponsible tourist behaviour was responsible for triggering Egypt's recent shark attacks. The sudden presence of raw meat in the Red Sea came against a backdrop of long-term overfishing, which depletes the sharks' natural prey, and of unthinking swimmers and snorkellers trying to feed scraps to marine life - a practice that is prohibited as it encourages sharks to approach humans and view them as a source of food.
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The chairman of the Sharm El Sheikh Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) suggested that attacks might have been due to overfishing, which is an ongoing problem in the area.
Shark Species Involved
On 9 December 2010, an international team of experts announced that it had found that two species-makos and oceanic whitetips-had been involved in the attacks. The shark responsible is now said to have been a mako, two species of which, the shortfin (Isurus oxyrinchus) and longfin (Isurus paucus), are found in the Red Sea but rarely near beaches.
Ep 142: Sharm El Sheikh Shark Attacks
Conspiracy Theories
The attacks also sparked conspiracy theories about possible Israeli involvement. Egyptian television broadcast claims from South Sinai governor Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha that Israeli divers captured a shark with a GPS unit planted on its back, allegedly by Mossad.
Conservation and Management
Experts emphasized the need for responsible behavior in the ocean. Hossam El-Hamalawy, a certified Red Sea rescue diver, stated, "This should be a reminder that the ocean is the shark's natural habitat and that we are visitors there. When we begin messing with the inhabitants' behavioural patterns, when we begin messing with their environment, then the consequences can be serious."
To avoid altering shark behaviour and maintain the ecological balance, a plan should be developed to manage marine waste, regulate fishing and combat marine pollution. A further suggestion is to separate the Red Sea fishing area from the Gulf of Suez and ban fishing-boats in all parts of the Red Sea from Ashrafi Reef to the Egypt/Sudan border in the south.
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Di Gioia’s death was the first reported in relation to sharks since that of a 24-year-old Russian snorkeller in Hurghada in June 2023 in an encounter thought to have involved a tiger shark.
Historical Context
Sharks are commonly seen near Sharm El Sheikh, but attacks on humans are very rare, particularly by the two species implicated in the 2010 attacks. Only nine attacks by oceanic whitetips had been reported worldwide in the last 430 years, and only one had been previously fatal. However, oceanographic researcher Jacques Cousteau described the oceanic whitetip as "the most dangerous of all sharks."
Despite the greater notoriety of other sharks habitually found nearer the shore, the oceanic whitetip is believed to be responsible for many casualties as a result of predation on survivors of shipwrecks.
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