From Macedonia International News Agency (follow link for more and picture of the terrifying shark):
The Serbian hero was too drunk to remember what had happened, though one of his friends who witnessed the incident explained it all for the Belgrade based media. Dragan Stevic was dubbed by the Egyptian media as “Shark El Sheikh” and thanked him for saving their tourist season.
Milovan Ubirapa, one of Stevic’s friend who witnessed the incident explained that Dragan had decided to go to the beach for a swim after a long night of drinking. As Dragan and his friends approached the beach, he saw a fairly high positioned jumping board utilized earlier in the day by divers.
“Dragan climbed on the jumping board, told me to hold his beer and simply ran to jump. There was no time for me to react or to try to stop him, he just went for it” says Milovan. “Dragan jumped high and plunged down to the sea, but didn’t make as much splash as we thought he would”, explained Milovan.
The reason could be because Dragan Stevic ended up jumping straight on the shark which was lurking near the beach, probably looking for its next victim. Dragan had nailed it right in the head, killing it instantly. The Egyptian police found the shark washed out on the beach that morning (pictured above).
We need to make up an award for this guy, or get an interview with him.
This brings a whole new meaning to the expression “to jump the shark”. Serb. Of course….
…once he gets out of hospital for alcohol treatment…heck, I can interview him in Serbian language…
That poor thing is a basking shark.
It should be mandatory that a biologist is consulted anytime there is a news story like this.
The guy who killed it should be fined.
The people terrorized at the beach should all celebrate, relax, and return to the beach, goaded on by the mayor who wants the tourists to return.
I’m actually pretty pissed about the media’s treatment of the “Shark Terror” in Sharem.
I’ve actually dived in the Tiran Straits off the coast of Sharem.
There are a lot of drunk, bored tourists there, most of whom fail to understand that they are vacationing in wild surroundings.
Just like people wouldn’t go sun-bathing in the middle of a lion habitat while on vacation in Africa and later blame the lions for being overtly aggressive, people should be aware of the dangers of uninformed contact with wild animals in the sea.
So far I’ve heard of at least two sharks who’ve been killed during this shark panic, and I’m willing to bet that both kills would have been unnecessary had people behaved more responsibly and kept in mind that they are in the midst of a wild habitat.
I feel sad that that shark was killed and I feel sad that the drunken stumbling of an obnoxious tourists are celebrated and heralded as heroism.
Agreed. The way the article is written, this shark was responsible for all the attacks. Pretty unlikely since basking sharks are filter feeders. It would be like blaming a whale shark because it’s big and in the same area.
The photo isn’t accurate. It’s of a basking shark that washed up in North Carolina last year. http://www.carolinabeachtoday.com/2009/10/basking-shark-washed-ashore- in.html
trying that link again: http://www.carolinabeachtoday.com/2009/10/basking-shark-washed-ashore-in.html
I’d question the accuracy of the story in general, especially after you showed me that! Seems like a load of tabloid crap to me. Thanks for digging up that image, I just moved into the area where that story is so I’ll have to keep a look out for strange sharks washing up!
If this were a major story about something important, I’d make a big deal, but its just more horrible reporting in a land far away for a news group that probably doesn’t care much for accuracy, just a crazy story.
We should bring him to Scio11!
I think we can safely discount this incident as being a complete fabrication.
I first heard of this bit of “news” from Pravda, which we all know takes great pains to verify the accuracy of its sources. *rolls eyes* And in the comments to the article on Pravda, it is stated that the original news source is a Serbian news parody site. Note how the basking shark in the Serbian “news” turns into a hammerhead on Pravda.
This is a great crazy story. Is it true? or may be the shark is a baby shark.