An elderly tourist has died after a shark bit her leg and arm at a popular holiday resort in Egypt.
Officials said the 68-year-old woman was barely alive after the shocking attack and died in an ambulance en route to Nile Hospital in Hurghada on Friday.
Disturbing footage shows the sea turning red with blood as the woman tries to swim away and witnesses scream in horror from a nearby pier.
A flotation device is thrown into the water in hopes of drawing her closer to shore, but it lands far too short.
A Mako shark is believed to have attacked the Austrian tourist who could not be resuscitated by emergency services. It is still unclear how she got to the beach.
Egyptian authorities have now closed off a stretch of the Red Sea coast for three days and banned all ‘sea activities’, including diving, snorkelling, windsurfing and kite sailing.
Shark attacks are relatively rare in Egypt’s Red Sea coastal area.
In 2020, a young Ukrainian boy lost an arm and an Egyptian tour guide lost a leg in an attack.
In 2010, a European tourist was killed in a wave of attacks near Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Red Sea resorts in Egypt are some of the country’s top beach destinations and are popular with European tourists.
Divers are drawn to the coral reefs which provide rich and colorful marine life.
Efforts have been made to revive Egypt’s tourism industry, battered by years of political instability and, more recently, the pandemic and war in Ukraine.
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