By Calvin Palmer
A French tourist was attacked and killed by a shark today while diving off Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
The woman, who was in her fifties, is thought to have bled to death before being pulled out of the water. Her leg showed visible bite marks.
“I can confirm that there is one French citizen killed by a shark in the Red Sea south of Marsa Alam,” said Jean-Marie Safa, a French embassy spokesman.
Marsa Alam is a remote diving spot on the Red Sea coast frequented by tourists hoping to avoid the overcrowded sites off the Sinai peninsula.
Amr Ali, the president of the Society for the Preservation of the Red Sea Environment, said: “This very rarely happens. It seems that the victim aggravated the shark or presented it with food, which caused a change in the shark’s behaviour.”
The last person killed by a shark in Egypt was attacked while snorkelling near the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2004.
[Based on a report by The Times.]
