Sharks make a Red Sea comeback

Tourist police in Ain Sokhna have received reports of three sharks swimming in the sea near one of the town's popular resorts, the state-owned Al-Ahram daily newspaper reported on Monday. Employees and guests at the resort, unnamed in the report, all claimed to have seen the sharks, Al-Ahram said. An official from the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF), which consults on hazards in Egyptian waters, told Ahram Online that, although they were aware of the news reports, they had not been officially informed. Ain Sokhna is a popular resort town lying on the western shore of the Red Sea's Gulf of Suez, about 120 kilometres east of Cairo. Late 2010 saw a spate of shark attacks in Egypt's in the normally-calm waters around the Sinai peninsula, stoking fears of a long-term hit to the country's tourism sector. In November 2010, three Russians and a Ukrainian were injured in a shark attack in the Red Sea waters near Sharm El-Sheikh, prompting a temporary ban on swimming in some areas. Early in December, a 70-year-old German woman was killed in a similar attack after the ban was lifted. Local diving experts said single shark attacks were very rare in the area and were puzzled as to why so many people were attacked in such quick succession.