Three beaches that are very popular with tourists on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria were closed to the public last weekend after a shark (or possibly even two) was spotted.
It was tourists who spotted the reportedly two-metre animal, probably a hammerhead shark, on Saturday at Melenara beach in Telde, on the island of Gran Canaria. They raised the alarm around 5:30 p.m., after which the lifeguards present hoisted the red flag and called on everyone to get out of the water as quickly as possible. This was accompanied by a lot of panic among tourists.
“The rescuer started blowing his whistle and forced everyone to get out of the water quickly,” a girl swimming in the water told the local TV station Canary Islands 7. “Then I looked around and saw a fin of the shark.” A friend of the girl also saw the fin, he told the same channel. “It protruded ten centimeters above the water. So we walked onto the beach as quickly as possible.” (Continue reading below the video)
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The same rescuers immediately took to the water with a jet ski to look for the animal, and received assistance from the police. The officers had a drone with them in the hope of taking images of the animal. The nearby beach of Salinetas was also closed in the meantime, to prevent the shark from causing panic or even something worse there. In the hours that followed, emergency services continued to monitor the shark’s movements. Images were taken several times.
Spotted again
When the beach reopened on Sunday morning after the animal had not been spotted for several hours, tourists again reported seeing a shark. It again led to some panic and to the closure of the two beaches, after which a report was also made near San Augustin beach. A tourist said he saw the animal there when he went to a restaurant for lunch. Red Cross aid workers are also said to have seen the shark afterwards, after which that beach was also closed. It is still not clear whether it is the same shark or whether two different animals were swimming around.
The beaches were reopened on Monday. For the time being, the shark has not been seen again by tourists or rescuers.
Fortunately, the hammerhead shark is hardly involved in incidents. There are only 17 known cases of people being attacked by these animals, and no death has ever resulted.