A Russian father is devastated after watching his 23-year-old son get mauled to death by a tiger shark at an Egyptian resort while screaming, “Papa, save me.”
Yury Popov shared with the Telegram news outlet 112 that he and his 23-year-old son, Vladimir, decided to relax at the beach in Hurghada, Egypt’s Red Sea resort town, on June 8 — months after Vladimir moved into a Hurghada apartment with his dad, according to Baza news outlet.
At some point after Vladimir entered the water, a tiger shark approached and attacked the 23-year-old. Several outlets reported that Vladimir’s girlfriend was in the water, as well, but managed to escape. That hasn’t been confirmed.
Horrific videos surfaced online, showing the son struggling to swim to shore due to the shark constantly getting a hold of him. Vladimir could be seen flailing around in the water, attempting to escape the shark. He even screamed for his dad to help.
At one point, his body flipped to where his legs stuck out of the water. After his last attempt to swim away, the monster got a hold of Vladimir again and never returned to the surface.
As much as Yury wanted to help his son, he knew he couldn’t.
“What kind of help can you give? This meat grinder happened in 20 seconds. He was simply dragged underwater,” Yury told the outlet.
Following Vladimir’s gruesome attack, some fishermen caught the tiger shark responsible for the 23-year-old’s death, dragged it to land and clubbed it to death.
Egypt’s Ministry of Environment released a statement confirming the incident. It announced all water activities, including swimming, snorkeling and others, were prohibited in the area between El Gouna Resort in the north and the southern border of Abu Soma Bay for a couple of days.
They also said the shark displayed “abnormal behavior,” which would be investigated.
News Onyx has attached the videos below, but please be warned that the videos are graphic and disturbing to watch.
Shark attack 🦈 in Egypt 🇪🇬
Rip russian men! pic.twitter.com/hTeafRLZAC— Yaren (@Yarennkc_) June 9, 2023
The tiger shark that killed a tourist in Egypt was caught and killed. Locals weren’t happy about the shark attack. pic.twitter.com/nvHVhJH3O0
— AlAudhli العوذلي (@AAudhli) June 9, 2023
