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The 2010 Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks were a series of attacks by sharks on swimmers off the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. On 1 December 2010, three Russians and one Ukrainian were seriously injured within minutes of each other, and on 5 December 2010 a German woman was killed, when they were attacked while wading or snorkeling near the shoreline. The attacks were described as "unprecedented" by shark experts. In response to the attacks, beaches in the popular tourist resort were closed for over a week, dozens of sharks were captured and killed, and the local government issued new rules banning shark feeding and restricting swimming. A variety of theories were put forward to explain the attacks. By late December 2010, the most plausible theory to emerge was that the dumping of sheep carcasses in the Red Sea by a livestock transport during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha had attracted the sharks to the shore. Other theories focused on overfishing in the Red Sea or on the illegal or inadvertent feeding of sharks or smaller fish close to the shore, which produced scents that attracted more sharks. ==Attacks== The first attacks occurred on 1 December, when four people were attacked within minutes of each other in the Ra's Nasrani area. 48-year-old Olga Martynenko suffered a severe spinal injury and wounds to her hands and legs,〔"(Come on in... the water's lovely, says Sharm el Sheikh tourism chief (shame about the sharks) )". ''Daily Mail'', 8 December 2010〕 while 70-year-old Lyudmila Stolyarova lost her right hand and left leg. Both had to have their injured limbs partly amputated. An unnamed 54-year-old Russian man suffered serious leg wounds, requiring a partial amputation, while 49-year-old Ukrainian Oleksandr Dykusarov also suffered leg injuries but was well enough to leave hospital the following day.〔"(Russian tourists lose arms and legs in shark attack in Egypt )". ''Pravda'', 3 December 2010〕〔"(Russians injured by sharks in stable condition )". ITAR-TASS, 3 December 2010〕〔"(Ukrainian attacked by shark in Egypt discharged from hospital )". ''Kyiv Post'', 2 December 2010〕 Lyudmilla Stolyarova's husband Vladimir said: "I ran up to her and could hear her gasping 'Shark! Shark! Shark!' She somehow managed to push the shark away from her. The shark bit off her arm, but she managed to swim closer to the shore. Before she got out of the water, the shark attacked again and bit off her foot."〔 Other witnesses described the attack on Olga Martynenko. "The woman managed to swim to the pier, but when people on the pier started pulling her out of the water, the shark bit off the woman's left buttock," one said. "She lost a lot of blood. There were tourists on the pier, and they helped to pull the woman out. Some of them were slapping the shark off with rubber fins. There were no rescuers on the pier during the moment when it all happened. A rescuer was running up to us from afar. There were neither cords, nor stretchers at hand. We used a swimsuit to block the blood flow from the gaping wound and grabbed a sun bed to carry the woman to the shore."〔 The attacks on the two men were witnessed from the shore. A barman witnessed one of the victims "running from the sea with blood streaming from gashes in his leg." The other male victim had to be rescued by members of a local diving centre. According to the barman, "the sea went red ... (foot ) was gone".〔Sherwood, Harriet. "(Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks leave beaches deserted )". ''The Guardian'', 3 December 2010〕 In response, officials closed the beaches and suspended all diving and watersports activities. Specialists from the Egyptian environment ministry were called in to investigate the incidents and caught a -long oceanic whitetip shark weighing that was claimed to be the one responsible for the attacks. The shark was "identified" by a local diver who claimed to have recognized the fish by its damaged fin.〔"(Egyptian killer shark caught after mauling four tourists in Red Sea resort )". RIA-Novosti, 2 December 2010〕 A mako shark that was long and weighed was also caught.〔"(Sharks suspected in Egypt tourist attacks nabbed )". The Associated Press, 2 December 2010〕 However, divers and conservationists said the captured sharks were not the same as the one that had been seen and photographed in the area shortly before the attacks.〔"(Shark attack kills German tourist at resort in Egypt )". BBC News, 5 December 2010〕 The attacks had a drastic effect on the local tourist industry. Mohamed Rashad, a bartender at the al-Bahr beach restaurant who was working at the time of the attack, said: "All the people ran away back to the hotel, no one wanted to stay on the beach. Now it's very quiet. People are scared to come to the beach. They are just coming to the bar to have a drink. They don't even want to stay on the sunbeds."〔 The Egyptian authorities reopened the beaches on 4 December following the capture of the sharks. The following day, 5 December, a 71-year-old German woman, who had visited the resort for 11 years, was killed by a shark while swimming in Naama Bay near the Hyatt hotel. Jochen Van Lysebettens, of the Red Sea Diving College, saw the attack, and told Sky News: "Suddenly there was a scream of help and a lot of violence in the water. The lifeguard got her on the reef and he noticed she was severely wounded." According to local officials, her arm was severed in the attack and she died within minutes.〔 Following the attacks, watersports activities were again suspended, though it was expected that scuba diving—which is considered to be at far less risk from shark attacks—would soon be allowed to resume. The Egyptian authorities engaged international shark experts to assess the situation and propose a solution.〔"(Swimming death escalates attacks crisis )". ''Divernet'', 6 December 2010〕 The Egyptian ministry of tourism also announced the injured tourists would each be offered $50,000 in compensation, paid for by the local tourist industry.〔(Sharm el-Sheikh: scientists give initial findings on shark attacks )". ''The Guardian'', 9 December 2010〕〔"(Victims of Egyptian shark attacks to receive $50,000 )". RIA Novosti, 9 December 2010〕 The attacks were widely described as "unprecedented" both in media reports and by Samuel H. Gruber, a marine biologist who studies sharks at the Bimini Biological Field Station in Miami, Florida.〔"(Egypt resort reopens some beaches after shark attack )". Associated Press, 9 December 2010〕〔"(Shark attack kills German woman off Egypt )". Agence France-Presse, 5 December 2010〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2010 Sharm el-Sheikh shark attacks」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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