The beaches at the popular resort destination of Sharm el-Sheikh on Egypt’s Red Sea coast have been closed indefinitely following the third shark attack in a week.
AP reports that a shark tore the arm off an elderly German tourist at a resort on the Sinai Peninsula, killing her almost immediately. The grisly attack came just days after sharks badly mauled four other European tourists in the waters.
"It was definitely a shark attack," said Hesham Gabar, the head of Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Water Sports.
Sunday's deadly attack, which forced authorities to indefinitely close the resort's beaches, comes after oceanic white tip sharks mauled three Russians and a Ukrainian tourist last week, also off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh. In one of those attacks, a shark bit off an elderly woman's hand and tore off another woman's leg.
Following those attacks, Egyptian authorities closed the beaches. But after the Environment Ministry said two sharks suspected of mauling the four tourists were caught, authorities allowed swimmers back into the waters.
Environmentalists warned that the string of recent attacks is likely a result of the Red Sea's declining ecosystem. Gabar said he's seen a jump in the number of sharks off Egypt's Red Sea coast, which he said could be caused by overfishing that is forcing sharks to swim closer to shore in search of food.
With travellers and European tour operators getting skittish, the spate of shark attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh - could deal a blow to the country's tourism industry, a vital source of income.
Beach tourism is believed to contribute two-thirds of Egypt's total income from tourism, which is expected to reach $12.3 billion by end of the current fiscal year ending 2011.
