A vacation in Egypt turns into a nightmare for a German family: While swimming in the sea, a shark suddenly comes dangerously close to them.
Marsa Alam/Hürth — The Dietz family is still visibly in shock. While on vacation in Egypt, a shark suddenly circled them in the sea. They were in an area known for fatal shark attacks.
Fear of death in the Red Sea: Shark circles German vacationers
The family of three actually just wanted to go snorkeling in Marsa Alam, a holiday resort on the Red Sea. Denis Dietz, the father of the family, had a GoPro with him that he wanted to use to film underwater footage. Then suddenly a three-meter-long oceanic whitetip shark swims towards them.
In an interview with
RTL,
they repeatedly fight back tears while recounting their experiences. “You can’t believe that you experienced this yourself,” says Denis Frau. The parents and their daughter Sophia were scared to death. Even though they were only 50 meters from the beach, their cries for help were not heard: “We screamed for help for so long and no one came.”
Rescue in an emergency: father of a family uses a surprising trick
The family's luck was that Dennis had found out about shark attacks in advance. With a gentle push, he pushed the shark away from him. He had seen this tactic in videos before. He did exactly the right thing: “A fish wouldn’t grab the shark’s nose and push it away,” says marine biologist and author Karsten Brensing. With such a gesture, people would signal to the shark that they are not food. If a shark approaches in the water, other behaviors can also protect you: experts recommend, for example, hitting the animal on the gills. It is also important to remain calm.
The family can no longer see the three-meter-long shark and quickly swims to the jetty. “Luckily he didn’t chase us,” says daughter Sophia. The family still needs time to process the experience, but they don't want to miss out on the joy of snorkeling.
Not an isolated case: sharks repeatedly kill off the coast of Egypt
There have been repeated fatal shark attacks in Egypt in recent years. In 2022, an Austrian vacationer lost an arm and a leg in an attack by a mako shark. Although she was able to be rescued from the water alive, she died from her injuries on the way to the hospital. Last year, a 23-year-old tourist was attacked and killed by a tiger shark.
According to Brensing, the reason for this is fish waste, which fishermen are increasingly disposing of in the water. This would attract the sharks and lead to increased attacks. (jus)