Egypt to install monitoring devices to track sharks in Red Sea

ISTANBUL

Egypt plans to install monitoring devices to track the movements of sharks following last week’s shark attack in the Red Sea, according to local media.

A 28-year-old Russian tourist was killed after being attacked and dragged under the water by a tiger shark in Hurghada city on June 8.

Following the attack, the Environment Ministry decided to install monitoring devices within days to track the movements of sharks, especially tiger sharks, in the Red Sea, Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper said, citing sources.

The move aims to identify the reasons behind shark attacks against diving practitioners, the sources said.

According to the sources, the monitoring devices will be installed in cooperation with a foreign specialist and researchers in the Red Sea reserves.

Egyptian authorities have yet to confirm the move.

Shark attacks have been relatively rare in Egypt’s Red Sea coastal region.

In 2022, two European tourists were killed in shark attacks near Hurghada.

In 2020, a young Ukrainian boy lost an arm and an Egyptian tour guide a leg in a shark attack.

A shark also killed a Czech tourist off a Red Sea beach in 2018. A German tourist was also killed in a similar attack in 2015.

In 2010, various shark attacks killed a European tourist and maimed several others off Sharm El-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula across the Red Sea from Hurghada.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi