Swimmers rush to safety after shark is spotted off Spanish holiday coast
Swimmers enjoying the waves at a beach in Spain were forced to rush to safety after spotting a shark lurking in the shallows.
The beach can be stressful enough at the best of times, when wind blows sand all over your towel, seagulls are eyeing up your lunch and it's impossible to put on suncream without feeling like you're giving yourself a salt scrub.
I personally find it much more relaxing to hang out at a pool, where, among all those other things, you also don't have to deal with the threat of a literal shark if you want to take a dip in the water.
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Footage filmed yesterday (15 June) at Aguamarina Beach, south of Alicante in Spain, shows the moment people swimming in the ocean urgently began making their way towards the shore as lifeguards shouted for them to escape the waves.
The shark is thought possibly to have been a seven-foot blue shark, which usually live deeper in warmer waters, and could be seen clearly in the footage filmed by an onlooker at the beach.
Swimmers desperately attempted to wade out of the shark's path, and there have been reports that one elderly lady suffered a panic attack at the scene after realising the shark was near her.
Biologist Juan Antonio Pujol insisted the shark wasn't necessarily anything to panic about - though that's probably easier said than done.
Speaking to a local paper, Pujol said: “Coming across something like this when you’re swimming in the water makes an impression but you should stay calm because they’re not aggressive.”
In an update today, a local weather page shared images of what is believed to have been the same shark lying on its side by some rocks in the sea at La Caleta Beach in Cabo Roig.
“The seven-foot shark that approached the shoreline has died," the site claimed.
The news of the shark's death came as a second shark was spotted in another popular holiday destination - Menorca.
The creature was seen swimming in the water inside Ciutadella Port, with its early-morning appearance leading some to believe it could be injured.
This is far from the first time sharks have been spotted in Spain; in 2018 tourists fled the sea in panic after a blue shark appeared in the water by Calas de Majorca beach in Majorca.
In April a near seven-foot shark was also filmed in the surf on the southeast coast of Majorca at a beach called Cala Llombards.
Emily Brown