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03/09/2011 - Female - Egypt - *** Fatal *** Scavenged

Shark Attack Related Incident News Archive for 2011 Shark Attacks and Related Incidents.
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alb
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Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:41 pm

03/09/2011 - Female - Egypt - *** Fatal *** Scavenged

Post by alb »

TWO Brits who saw a shark eating a human corpse off Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort were told to keep quiet — as it might hit tourism.

The pair watched in horror from their dive boat as the 16ft tiger shark tore at the body less than a third of a mile from the shore.

But the crew continued with the trip — not stopping to fish out the female corpse.

They told Richard King, 32, partner Laura Hooper, 29, and five other tourists not to speak out in the resort — blighted by shark attacks last year.
Horrified ... Brits Richard King and Laura Hooper
Horrified ... Brits Richard King and Laura Hooper
03-09-2011-witnesses.jpg (29.55 KiB) Viewed 12841 times
Police later recovered the body and began an inquiry.

Salesman Richard, of Swindon, told how the crew saw the shark soon after leaving Sharm Beach for a day’s scuba-diving.

He said: “As we got closer, we clocked that it had been feeding on a human
body.
“Laura ran into the boat in tears. We were asked by the crew not to say anything as it would be bad for tourism.

“We couldn’t believe it when there were people swimming in the water the next day. There was no mention of sharks in the water or a dead body.”

The crew completed the day’s diving and took the pair home.

The couple cut their week’s hols short due to the incident. Richard said: “Neither of us felt like getting in the water again.”

A spokesman for their tour operator told The Sun the incident was reported as soon as the boat got back, and added: “It was not a shark attack that killed the person.”

And last night the dive centre insisted they reported the body DURING the trip. A spokesman said: “A guide asked if they wished to proceed and they all said yes. The other guide phoned the authorities.”

The resort’s beaches were closed last year following shark attacks that killed a tourist and injured two others.
Shock ... tiger shark splashes off Sharm el-Sheikh coastline
Shock ... tiger shark splashes off Sharm el-Sheikh coastline
THIS latest shark incident will have a far greater impact on UK visitor numbers than last month’s revolution.

The Red Sea resort has staked its reputation on being able to offer unrivalled diving and snorkelling.

But with this shark seemingly ignored by locals desperate to return to normal, things are not looking good for Egypt’s tourist industry. Authorities need to get to grips with the problem quickly before it spirals out of control.

If they can’t guarantee safe diving, Brit tourists will just go elsewhere.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk

We would like to thank Jack Anavian, MD for finding this incident and sharing....
We have another tool we are building at https://sharkattacks.net
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