Sharm El-sheikh shark attacks: Lifeguards 'laughed' at WARNINGS minutes before fatal attack
A shark attack on an elderly woman that took away her life could have reportedly been avoided if lifeguards had paid attention. Elisabeth Sauer, 68, died after her arms and legs were ripped off by a Mako shark while swimming near the city of Hurghada. Now, a report has said that tourists had alerted lifeguards of the presence of sharks minutes before Sauer was attacked. But they apparently “laughed” and took no action.
The Sun cited a post on Russian tourists' online chat site that stated the lifeguards were informed about the predator. The post reportedly said, “English-speaking people standing at the pier saw a shark 15 minutes before the attack, and warned the lifeguards. But they laughed at them, saying there are no sharks in Sahl Hasheesh and never have been. Another two tourists jumped onto the reef top, escaping a shark, and pleaded for help.”
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“But the lifeguards shouted to swim from the place to the pontoon stairway by themselves. To put it bluntly, everything is Egyptian style. There is no science, no proper system. They just made a lad from Luxor the lifeguard and gave him a whistle,” it added.
Sauer’s tragic death happened as another woman in her 40s, who was reportedly from Romania, also died in a shark attack. The Sun reported that the woman was “missing from her 5-star hotel in Egypt for two days, said sources in the Red Sea resort where she was mauled to death.” Her “disfigured” remains were discovered on coral.
Zhanna, a Russian who lives in Hurghada, claimed, “She was found on coral. Her body was disfigured. She was a citizen of Romania,” before adding, “After the first victim, no one closed any beaches. I swam freely. [The lifeguards], as always, wanted to hide it, but when it became known there were two victims, they finally stirred.”
Zhanna also spoke with the Russian news outlet gazette.ru, stating, “A working group of specialists was formed to find out the reasons for the behavior of the sharks. The Russian consulate warned Russian tourists. Let's see how the governor of the Red Sea reacts. They don’t want to lose tourists, but they don’t do anything to prevent this either.”
The post on the chat site contained a video as well in which a witness said half of the woman’s body had been pulled off. Another witness reportedly said, “It was obviously a corpse. [Killed by] a shark. They put [the human remains] in bags about five minutes ago. There [were] six policemen there. An electric car drove up and they put [the body] there, right in the bags. The car stalled and police had to push it out. Damn... this is the second [shark victim] already. Photos and videos were not allowed. Police ran up saying: ‘Erase. Erase. Erase.’”
These two deaths are quite similar to the horrific death of a British ex-pat, who died in Sydney in February. Simon Nellist was swimming at Buchan Point, near Little Bay, when he was fatally attacked by a shark. After his death, one of his friends said, “Simon was amazing. That’s all there is to say really. He was just the best. He was the nicest, kindest human. It is a huge loss. In the last couple of years, we haven’t been able to see him because of the Covid situation.”