Israeli police on Tuesday scoured the Mediterranean coast for a swimmer they fear might have been attacked by a shark in an area that has long seen close encounters between marine predators and beachgoers who sometimes seek them out.
A shiver of endangered dusky and sandbar sharks has been swimming close to the area for years, attracting onlookers who approach them, drawing pleas from conservation groups for authorities to separate people from the wild animal.
Nature groups said those warnings went unheeded.
Photo: AFP
Police and rescue workers launched a search along the coast after reports that a shark attacked a swimmer on a beach near Hadera, and on Tuesday afternoon, the Israel Fire and Rescue Authority announced it had found remains of a body, which was brought to a forensic institute for identification.
The beach was closed on Tuesday as search teams used boats and underwater equipment to look for the man. His identity was not immediately known, but Israeli media said he had gone to swim with the sharks.
Israelis flocked in large numbers to the beach during a week-long holiday, sharing the waters with a dozen or more sharks.
Some tugged on the sharks’ fins, while others threw them fish to eat.
Dusky sharks can grow to 4m long and weigh about 350kg. Sandbar sharks are smaller, growing to about 2.5m and 100kg.
Yigael Ben-Ari, head of the marine branch of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said it was not known how the man behaved around the sharks, but the public should know not to enter the water when sharks are present and not to touch or play with them.
The incident would be just the third recorded shark attack in Israel, Ben-Ari said.
One person was killed in an attack in the 1940s.
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