A shark attacked a young man who was swimming 6km offshore on Saturday in the popular resort of Ain Sokhna on the Red Sea.
Omar Abdel Qader, 23, was on a trip with his friends on Saturday morning in Wadi El Dom tourist village in Ain Sokhna, where they rented a motorboat to cruise in the Gulf of Suez. He jumped into the water for a swim when a shark attacked him and injured his left leg; this injury required his leg to be amputated.
A shark from the Mako species attacked Abdel Qader, the Environment Ministry clarified in an official statement issued on Sunday. A specialised team from nature reserves in Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh are headed to Ain Soukna to inspect the area.
“Authorities from nature reserves in the Red Sea and South Sinai were instructed to scan the site of the incident and prepare an urgent evaluation report of recommended actions to take,” the statement read.
Abdel Qader was transferred to Suez public hospital and had his leg amputated. He is currently receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of the hospital.
Shark sightings are rare but incidents involving the animals are memorable. In 2009, a shark killed a French woman at a resort near Sharm El-Sheikh. The following year, a German tourist was attacked by a shark and killed. The attack in 2010 resulted in three Russian tourists being injured as well. In 2015, a shark attacked and killed a 53-year-old German national while swimming at a resort in Marsa Alam.
