Man mauled to death by shark at Egyptian tourist resort

The country's Environment Ministry has released a statement following the tragic incident

The Russian citizen was killed whilst swimming in the sea at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada on Thursday (8 June), according to Russia's Consulate General in the city and two Egyptian security sources.

Footage of the horrific attack has been circulated online, and shows the man thrashing about in the water. He is then dragged under the surface.

Following the tragic incident, Egypt's Environment Ministry issued a statement, in which they said a tiger shark was responsible for the attack.

The statement read: "Investigation work has been completed, and the Red Sea Reserves confirmed that there was an attack by a tiger shark on a beach pioneer, leading to his death."

It explained that the shark had since been captured by authorities, and a ban on swimming and water sports activities had been put in place across several beaches nearby.

A follow-up statement added: "Dr. Yasmin Fouad, the Minister of the Environment, directed the staff specialised in managing the shark attack incident on a pioneer of Hurghada beaches, to apply all policies applied globally to achieve maximum levels of safety for Red Sea shores and to take all possible measures to avoid the repetition of the shark attack incident again."

The minister continued: "In light of abnormal shark behaviour causing the incident and previous fact that there have been incidents of attacks on humans by this species in the past, the fishing team examined the fish that caused the incident to examine it to find out possible causes for the attack and whether it was [the] same fish that caused previous accidents."

The Ministry of the Environment also "warns citizens and shores of the Red Sea to comply with instructions and regulations organised to deal with natural resources in the Red Sea for their safety."

A diver who arrived at the scene in the moments after the attack said people rushed to help the victim but were unable to reach him in time, Reuters reports.

One witness reportedly told Russia station REN-TV: "It happened in a second. Rescuers reacted very quickly. For some reason, I immediately felt that it was a shark.

"I immediately jumped up and started shouting: 'Sharks, sharks! Save yourself!' Nobody understood yet."

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