Egypt shuts Sharm El-Sheikh dive spot after boy, 12, loses hand in shark attack

This picture shows an Oceanic Whitetip shark swimming in the blue near the Elphinstone reef dive site off the coast of Marsa Alam in the Egyptian Red Sea on October 9, 2018. (AFP)

• Two-meter whitetip blamed for savaging boy, mum and guide as they snorkeled in Egypt

CAIRO: A 12-year-old tourist has lost his hand after a shark attack at the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The boy’s mother, who is from Ukraine, and their guide were also injured when the two-meter shark attacked them as they were snorkeling.
Egyptian authorities suspended all activities at the popular diving spot of Ras Mohammed after the attack.
The state-run Ahram newspaper said a task group, formed by the Egyptian Environment Ministry, said the attack was carried out by an oceanic whitetip shark.
“The minister has decided to suspend all human activities in the vicinity of the attack in accordance to present global practice in shark attacks on humans,” the ministry statement read.
The ministry said video footage captured underwater at the attack location showed the shark had been acting abnormally and had been hostile toward humans.
The mother sustained wounds and the boy remains in intensive care, Ukraine’s State Agency for Tourism Development said. However, the boy’s mauled hand could not be saved, it added.
Egypt has witnessed several shark attacks in recent years. 
A Czech tourist was killed in Marsa Alam in 2018 and in 2010 and a German woman was killed in 2010 during a spate of five attacks in just a few days.