09/14/2023 Zainab Ahmed Mohammed Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt

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Female tourist loses an arm in shark attack at popular Red Sea beach 'after swimmers mistook the predator for a tuna'

A tourist in Egypt has lost an arm in a horrific shark attack after allegedly mistaking the predator for a tuna fish.

The female tourist, reportedly from Alexandria, had to have her left arm amputated after she was bitten while swimming with a friend.

She was rescued from the sea unconscious and was taken to hospital. Her condition was later described as 'stable'.

Reports say swimmers on Laguna Beach in Dahab initially mistook a shark for a tuna.

Video showed the dramatic moment of her rescue as she was rushed to an ambulance.

Beachgoers fled from the sea after the attack at the Dahab resort, about 36 miles north of Sharm el-Sheikh.

A two-hour search with harpoons failed to locate the shark despite sightings, according to reports.

The beach in south Sinai was closed by the authorities in the wake of the attack.

A shark had been seen in waters off the Egyptian resort of Dahab in August, which led to a temporary ban on swimming at the time but it had since re-opened.

The attack on the woman follows an incident in June when Russian tourist Vladimir Popov, 23, was mauled to death by a tiger shark in Hurghada.

One theory is that he was killed by a predator that had also fatally attacked tourists a year earlier.

Tourists watched in horror from the shore as the beast wounded the man before dragging him under the water. His distraught girlfriend managed to escape.

The tourist was on a long stay in Egypt and had moved to a resort with his father several months ago.

His father watched the fatal attack in horror, which was also filmed from the shore.

In July last year, 68-year-old Austrian Elisabeth Sauer was attacked in front of horrified onlookers - 15 minutes after English-speaking guests warned Egyptian lifeguards about sharks

A second woman, identified only as a Romanian national in her 40s, is thought to have been killed in a similar attack just 650ft away from where Sauer died, with her badly disfigured remains found on a nearby reef the same day.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/