Dad describes helplessly watching son being killed by shark 'in 20 seconds' at Egyptian resort

The father of a young man who was mauled to death by a shark has spoken of his devastation.

Footage emerged earlier today (9 June) that showed Vladimir Popov swimming off the Egyptian coast.

In the short clip, the 23-year-old can be seen being pulled beneath the surface several times, with the huge figure of a tiger shark lurking beside him.

As fellow holiday makers watch on in horror, screams can be heard from along the shoreline.

But as they called on Vladimir to swim away, the shark lunges at him once again, mauling him to death.

Following the terrifying attack, the shark was eventually caught, dragged onto land, and then killed.

Speaking about his son's death, Yury Popov, who is originally from Russia, said he was inconsolable and was powerless to help his boy.

Telegram via BAZA Rossiya24

"We went to the beach to relax, Mr Popov said.

"My son was attacked by a shark, it all happened in seconds.

"What kind of help can you give? This meat grinder happened in 20 seconds, he was just dragged under the water."

Adding: "This is an absolutely ridiculous coincidence, because it is a safe beach. There are ships and yachts around. It's never happened there. They usually attack on wild beaches.

"It's just some kind of evil fate."

According to reports, the father and son had only moved to the area several months ago.

This is the third such shark attack in recent months.

In July last year, a 68-year-old woman, called Elisabeth Sauer, from Austria, was attacked by a shark at the Sahl Hasheesh, which is not far from the spot where Vladimir died.

East2West

The remains of a Romanian woman were also found in same location later that day.

Following the latest attack, Egypt's Environment Ministry posted a statement to Facebook, which explained that the shark had been caught.

It read: "In light of abnormal shark behaviour causing the incident and previous fact that there have been incidents of attacks on humans by this species in the past, the fishing team examined the fish that caused the incident to examine it to find out possible causes for the attack and whether it was [the] same fish that caused previous accidents."

The Ministry of the Environment also 'warns citizens and shores of the Red Sea to comply with instructions and regulations organised to deal with natural resources in the Red Sea for their safety'.

Topics: Animals, Travel, World News, Sharks

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom