A graphic video has captured the moment a tiger shark attacked a Russian man who was swimming in the sea.
Vladimir Popov, 23, had been swimming off a beach in Hurghada, Egypt, when the attack happened, the Egyptian Ministry of the Environment said in a statement.
The footage, which is circulating online, shows the man struggling in the water as the shark attacks him.
The following video shows graphic imagery of the attack, and may be distressing to some viewers.
The shark can be seen swimming around him before dragging him under.
Witnesses to the incident—a lifeguard and a diver—raised the alarm and went to help him, but they were too late. The man had been killed.
According to local Russian media reports, the beach was filled with people who watched in horror as the attack was happening. The victim's father was also on the beach.
"Here she is eating his remains," one person can be heard saying in the video.
The ministry confirmed that a tiger shark had been responsible for the attack.
A witness told Russia station REN-TV: "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!'"
The ministry said the shark was found and captured. An assessment of the shark found that it was the same one to have caused "previous accidents."
"In this regard, the specialized team of the Ministry of the Environment and in cooperation with other specialties have succeeded in controlling the fish that caused the accident and has been transferred to the laboratory for examination and all required information to determine the possible causes of the attack," the statement said.
Tiger sharks are one of the "big three" shark species that most commonly attack people, alongside the great white and the bull shark.
These sharks grow to large sizes and as a result can inflict more damage on their victims. It is also widely believed that these types of shark are prone to being more aggressive than other species.
Shark attacks still remain incredibly rare in the Red Sea region.
According to the International Shark Attack File, there have only been 24 unprovoked shark attacks in the country from 1580 to the present day.
However, in 2022 two attacks occurred within days of each other off Hurghada beach. It is unclear whether these attacks were the "previous accidents" caused by the tiger shark that were cited by the ministry.
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