Fresh shark sightings have forced two more Spanish holiday beaches to close, as several predators have been spotted off the coast of Gran Canaria, including a beast measuring up to 3 metres.
Lifeguards ordered swimmers out of the water at Melenara Beach on the island’s east coast for the second day in a row when a police drone spotted a hammerhead shark on the beach shortly after it reopened yesterday morning. tomorrow.
The bathing ban was extended yesterday afternoon to the neighboring Salinetas beach.
And about two hours later, lifeguards raised the red flag at a third location, St. Augustine Beach in the south of the island, after a tourist photographed the telltale shark fin sticking out of the water.
It was not immediately clear if the big fish was the same one that terrorized beachgoers at Melenara Beach around 5pm on Saturday and prompted the first of the beach closures.
Lifeguards ordered swimmers out of the water at Melenara beach on the east coast of Gran Canaria for the second day in a row when a police drone spotted a hammerhead shark on the beach.
Hammerhead sharks can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds.
Police drone footage shows a fin poking out of the water off the east coast of Gran Canaria
Yesterday morning it briefly reopened for bathing before the second closure around 1:00 pm after local police drones spotted a shark near Taliarte port, next to Melenara beach.
The red flag was also raised on Salinetas beach, just to the south.
Local police confirmed after a second, much clearer drone sighting in the same area around 5pm yesterday that it was a hammerhead shark, the same species that caused panic on Saturday when it appeared near the coast.
Its size was initially estimated at just under seven feet, although the second drone sighting noted it was up to 10 feet long.
In between, St. Augustine Beach, 20 miles south, was also closed after a new shark sighting.
He was reportedly seen by a tourist near an ocean-view restaurant called Balcón de San Agustín. Later, Red Cross officials confirmed that they had also seen it.
It was not picked up again despite efforts by local police and other officials to locate and trace it, and the beach is expected to reopen today unless council bosses make a last-minute U-turn.
It is unclear whether the shark seen further south is a hammerhead shark, which can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds, or another species.
Most species of hammerhead shark are considered harmless to humans and few attacks have been recorded, but they are aggressive hunters and their size and ferocity make them potentially harmless.
The girls could be heard screaming as the shark that caused panic at Melenara Beach on Saturday afternoon approached the shore at high speed with its telltale fin sticking out of the water.
Footage from the scene showed the youths running to safety as the shark swam towards shore before returning at the last minute after becoming agitated in the water.
Lifeguards are seen patrolling a beach amid a series of shark sightings, forcing tourists to get out of the water.
Youths were seen running to safety when the shark approached at around 5pm on Saturday.
One fish was identified locally as a hammerhead shark that can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds.
Another man was photographed holding a child in his arms from the safety of the sand as he watched him approach them.
A spokesman for the Telde City Council, the municipality to which Melenara beach belongs, said as the drama unfolded: “It is important that people remain calm and follow the instructions of the lifeguards and the authorities.”
A young woman who was in the water when the shark appeared told a local television station: “The lifeguard started blowing his whistle and telling everyone to get out of the water and I looked around and saw his fin.”
A friend added: “We saw the fin which was about three inches out of the water and started moving as fast as we could towards the beach.”
Last month, tourists and locals were banned from entering the sea after the sighting of a shark on a beach in Menorca.
Footage from the scene showed the shark swimming toward shore before returning.
The coast guard raised the red flag and called the Spanish equivalent of 999 after the telltale fin of a blue shark was spotted seven feet above the waterline.
The alarm was raised around 3:30 p.m. on May 6 at the popular Arenal d’en Castell beach, the same place where another shark was sighted in June 2018, when bathers were also prohibited from entering the water throughout the day. late.
The shark sighting was described at the time as the first so far this year near a beach on the Coast.
Blue sharks rarely bite humans, but have been involved in several biting incidents, four of which are said to have ended fatally.
A blue shark was blamed for attacking a tourist in Elche, near Alicante, in July 2016.
The victim, 40, was rushed to hospital and received stitches on a wound in his hand.
Lifeguards described the bite as “large” and said he had come out of the sea with blood dripping from the wound.
In June last year, an adult blue shark measuring about two meters caused panic on Aguamarina beach, on the Costa Blanca, in Orihuela Costa, south of Alicante.
Beachgoers were filmed trying to run to safety through waist-deep water as it approached the shore.
Lifeguards blew their whistles to warn locals and tourists about the big fish and urged them to get out of the sea as soon as possible.
A woman, believed to be an elderly person being helped out of the water by good Samaritans, is said to have suffered a panic attack after realizing the shark was next to her.
Local police confirmed, after a second, much clearer sighting with a drone in the same area, around five in the afternoon yesterday, that it was a hammerhead shark, the same species that caused panic on Saturday.
He was found dead the next day among the rocks on La Caleta beach in Cabo Roig, a couple of kilometers away.
On the same day that it was known, the same species of shark had been sighted inside the port of Ciutadella, in Menorca.
Biologist Asier Furundarena insisted after the weekend sightings in Gran Canaria that there are no reasons for alarm.
He said: “People should respect the instructions they receive from first responders and local police or other authorities present and stay calm because absolutely nothing is going to happen to them.”
“You should also enjoy the moment you are witnessing because it is a privilege to see species like these that are in danger of extinction in other parts of the world and here they can seek refuge.”