Egypt’s ministry of environment and the foreign ministries concerned with tourists said on Sunday that two women, an Austrian and a Romanian, were killed in a shark attack off the coast of Egypt this week.
The Egyptian ministry said on Facebook on Sunday that “two women were attacked by sharks while swimming”, in the Sahl Hashish area south of Hurghada on the Red Sea, both of whom died.
Austrian News Agency apa Said that one of the women was a 68-year-old woman from the country’s Tyrol region who was holidaying in Egypt. Austria’s Foreign Ministry confirmed AFP “Death of an Austrian citizen in Egypt” on Sunday, without providing further details.
The Foreign Ministry of Romania confirmed, citing information received from the Egyptian authorities. AFP The “death of a Romanian civilian” that “revealed” was due to a “shark attack” off Hurghada on Sunday.
Red Sea governor Amar Hanafi ordered the closure of all beaches in the region for three days on Friday “in a shark attack that appears to have torn the left arm of an Austrian tourist”. Social media users on Friday shared a video – whose authenticity, date and location AFP Could not independently verify – showing a swimmer struggling before a pool of blood appeared around him.
The environment ministry said on Sunday that a task force was working to “identify the scientific reasons and circumstances behind the attack” and “explore the reasons behind the shark’s behaviour”. The Red Sea is a popular tourist destination, with sharks common but rarely attacking people swimming within authorized limits.
In 2018, a Czech tourist was killed by a shark on a Red Sea beach. A German tourist was killed in a similar attack in 2015.
In 2010, five attacks off the coast of tourist hotspot Sharm el-Sheikh, unusually in five days, killed a German and injured four other foreign tourists.
Egypt is currently struggling to recover from rising inflation and currency weakness. The country depends heavily on tourism revenue from the Red Sea, which accounts for about 65 percent of tourists visiting the country. The tourism industry has over the past decade been affected by the country’s 2011 uprising, the ensuing unrest and coronavirus Epidemic.
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