Disturbing video of Egypt fatal shark encounter raises serious ethical concerns

A Russian man mauled to death by a tiger shark in waters by one of Egypt's Red Sea resorts, has been named as 23-year-old Vladimir Popov.

In retribution for the attack in the resort of Hurghada, the shark was then caught and dragged to land by boat before it was killed on the beach by a baying crowd, with both shocking and brutal events captured on film.

Many outlets and social media channels have (at times almost seemingly gleefully) shared the disturbing images of Popov in his final moments and being attacked, and equally horrible scenes of the shark being beaten to death have also been posted.

Tiger shark captured - copyright east2west news

Both are frankly hard to stomach and hard to understand why anyone would want to post such sickening footage, let alone watch or share it. This isn't entertainment, this isn't JAWS, and it certainly doesn't do sharks as a species any favours, or so called shark or JAWS fans.

Humankind, sometimes that seems very much like a paradox, this disturbing sharing not a kind human act at all. It's disrespectful, and I know some have posted on other sites have essentially said it was a shark doing what a shark does and was fair game and "you didn't see much", which isn't true and also spare a thought for that poor man's family. Exactly. It would seem that the sharks aren't just the ones in the water, but some of the people on these groups.

Sharks are often labelled as monstrous creatures, but perhaps it is some of us who need to take a look in the mirror.

This isn't the first time that such appalling shark attack footage has appeared and to me is akin to watching a recording of a fatal car crash or people being shot, and seeing these people die. There's no joy to be had by this morbid footage, and you can guarantee that there will be some who aren't respectful in their comments either.

We know shark encounters - especially fatal ones - are rare events, but gain lots of publicity and coverage. And that coverage can be a serious part of the problem, with one UK tabloid making it sound like the shark had planned the whole thing by saying “tiger shark was spotted stalking coast for THREE DAYS before killing tourist” and the very same piece opens by calling the tiger shark a "mad" 10ft beast. How is any of this style of reporting helpful to anyone?

It wasn’t stalking anyone - it is not Jack The Ripper - the shark was swimming in the sea, which is kind of standard operation for sharks, plus where there is one shark there will be others so it doesn’t even mean it was the shark which was involved in the fatal encounter.

Sadly, it is yet another continuing example of how the media have an insatiable feeding frenzy for shark attacks and the way they report on them.

According to the International Shark Attack Files in 2022 there were just 57 unprovoked shark attacks globally, with five of them proving fatal.

Authorities have confirmed that the stretch of water will remain off limits until the end of the weekend, but as we know there will be more than one shark in that area and that most times those sharks won't even be seen by people in the water or even encounter them. Like it or not we are in their domain, so here are some ways you can help reduce the risk of a shark encounter.

And Egypt is familiar as a shark attack location, with a double shark fatality within a few hundred metres of one another in July last year and then a series of other attacks in 2010, which strongly echoed the events of JAWS, complete with cover up by the authorities.

Of course, if you really want to see the footage of Poplov in his final moments of fear and the shark being beaten, you'll be able to find it with ease. You just won't find those videos here, and we'll stand by that.

We'll still be posting stories and news about global shark encounters, both past and present, but we will always do our utmost to be respectful and educational, not sensational and just there for the click or comment. Sharks and those involved in shark encounters deserve that, and so do our readers.

Words by Dean Newman

If you would like to write for The Daily Jaws, please visit our ‘work with us’ page

For all the latest Jaws, shark and shark movie news, follow The Daily Jaws on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.