2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks

<p>The 2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks were a series of <a href="/facts/Shark_attack/ECsBjx3T">attacks by sharks</a> on swimmers off the <a href="/facts/Red_Sea/0dKWSgEe">Red Sea</a> resort of <a href="/facts/Sharm_El_Sheikh/EMYSPkBK">Sharm El Sheikh</a>, Egypt. On 1 December 2010, three <a href="/facts/Russians/RBG9H1Rj">Russians</a> and one <a href="/facts/Ukrainians/393lUkjj">Ukrainian</a> were seriously injured within minutes of each other, and, on 5 December 2010, a <a href="/facts/Germans/F7mBCrJ4">German</a> woman was killed when she was attacked while wading and <a href="/facts/Snorkeling/FR7313BG">snorkeling</a> in the shallows close to the shoreline. The attacks were described as "unprecedented" by shark experts.
</p><p>In response to the attacks, beaches in the popular <a href="/facts/Tourist_resort/X1zuVL8y">tourist resort</a> were closed for over a week, dozens of suspected “aggressive” sharks were caught and killed, and the local government issued new rules, regarding the banning of <a href="/facts/Chumming/abWDmwj3">shark-feeding</a> and restrictions on <a href="/facts/Swimming/hnU8XbVg">swimming</a>. A variety of theories were proposed to explain the attacks, including <a href="/facts/Overfishing/fAxN80Jo">overfishing</a> in the Red Sea, causing increased hunger and aggression in the sharks, as well as the illegal, intentional or inadvertent feeding of fish close to shore (which produces scents that attract sharks). Another theory considers the dumping of <a href="/facts/Sheep/cjkJyI4f">sheep</a> <a href="/facts/Carrion/QEBnJuVy">carcasses</a> in the Red Sea by a <a href="/facts/Livestock/Quhv6GvP">livestock</a> transport (during the <a href="/facts/Islam/zDLbL45C">Islamic</a> festival of <a href="/facts/Eid_al-Adha/lxHKhuDt">Eid al-Adha</a>) that may have attracted the sharks closer to shore.
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2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks open-in-new

2010 Sharm El Sheikh shark attacks