A tourist has died and another has been injured in a shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast, officials said.
In a statement, the North African country’s environment ministry said the incident occurred on Sunday north of Marsa Alam, a resort in eastern Egypt popular with divers.
It added that the attack occurred in “deep waters outside the designated swimming area.”
While the ministry only stated that the two victims were foreigners, the AFP news agency, citing an unnamed source in the Italian Foreign Ministry, reported that they were Italian citizens.
The 48-year-old man who died lived in Rome, while the injured man was 69, according to AFP.
Egyptian officials said the two tourists were taken to a hospital in Port Ghalib, about 30 miles north of Marsa Alam.
The bathing area in Marsa Alam will be closed and the incident is being investigated, authorities said.
According to the independent Shark Research Institute, there have been four confirmed deaths from shark attacks in the past decade.
The most recent incident occurred in June 2023 near Hurguda and involved a 24-year-old Russian.
