A man was eaten alive by a shark Thursday while swimming near an Egyptian resort in the Red Sea as horrified bystanders looked on, according to video footage and reports.
In harrowing and graphic video footage, a man can be seen violently thrashing about in the water near the Egyptian city of Hurghada, disappearing under the surface multiple times before reemerging and appearing to scream for help. Moments later, an ominous fin appears beside him and the man gets dragged beneath the surface once more as bystanders scream in horror, the video shows.
“It happened in a second. Rescuers reacted very quickly. For some reason, I immediately felt that it was a shark. I immediately jumped up and started shouting: ‘Sharks, sharks! Save yourself!’ Nobody understood yet,” a witness told Russian media REN-TV, according to the New York Post.
“It’s a terrible thing, the remains of this guy are over there. I’m shaking. Right in front of my eyes, the shark ate that guy. I think I need a drink. I feel really bad,” another witness told the Telegram channel Baza, the NY Post reported.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Jaws was just a movie, right?
Tourists visiting the popular Egyptian resort of Hurghada [Africa] watched a man get eaten alive by a shark just feet away from a crowded beach. pic.twitter.com/CpmaPdQpGC
— AlphaFox (@Alphafox78) June 8, 2023
The man, allegedly identified only as 23-year-old V. Popov, was a Russian citizen who had been living in Egypt for the past several months, the Daily Beast reported, citing Russian news agency TASS. The Egyptian Ministry of Environment confirmed Popov had been attacked by a tiger shark after specialists investigated the area after the incident, according to the NY Post.
In order to determine what caused the attack, authorities captured the tiger shark and transferred it to a laboratory for examination, the Ministry of Environment announced in a separate statement. The Ministry further added that a tiger shark was responsible for other incidents involving swimmers in the same area. While the Ministry didn’t elaborate on those incidents, two women were killed by a shark in the waters near Hurghada in 2022 within days of each other, CBS News reported at the time. (RELATED: Lifeguards Race To Recover 59-Year-Old Tourist’s Body After Fatal Shark Attack)
After the horrifying attack, authorities in Hurghada suspended all swimming, snorkeling and water sports activities, citing international protocols for such incidents, the Ministry announced.