The Egyptian government has placed a shutdown order on all beaches along the coast of the Red Sea following the recent deaths of two foreign tourists as a result of shark attack.

Both attacks took place off the coast of Sahl Hasheesh. The first death incident involved a 68-year-old Austrian woman who died before her arrival in the hospital. The body of the second victim, a Romanian tourist in her forties, was found near the resort of Hurghada.

In a post by Sky News, the Austrian woman lost both a leg and an arm. A video clip spreading online shows that the woman was attacked by a macko shark as she was swimming close to the shore at the Hurghada resort.

In response to the two deaths, the governor of the Red Sea Governorate, Major General Amr Hanafi, has ordered for the shutdown of all beach activities close to the area of the attacks.

In a statement released by the Egypt Ministry of Environment, a committee has been set up to investigate the situation of the attacks and reasons behind them.

While shark attacks are rare at the Red Sea and its beaches, this is also not the first time such attacks has claimed lives in Egypt. Shark attacks have caused the death of a German tourist in 2015; a Czech tourist in 2018; and a 70-year-old German woman in 2010.