Latest news with #BarakTzach
The Independent
7 days ago
- The Independent
Shark bites surfer's leg in bloody attack off Canary Island's coast
A surfer was badly injured after he was attacked by a shark off the Canary Islands. The man was using a hydrofoil board about two miles west of Fuerteventura on Sunday when the incident occurred in open waters. The Los Molinos area is known for occasional shark sightings. After attacking his board, the shark sunk his teeth into the surfer's leg, leaving behind two bloody wounds above the knee, local media reported. He managed to scramble back to the shore for safety and was later treated by emergency services. Spanish TV channel Antena 3 described the wounds as 'deep'. While several shark species, including hammerheads and angel sharks, are known to swim in the area, they do not typically attack humans. Authorities have warned beachgoers to proceed with caution when venturing far from the shore, local media said. The shark attack is the latest in a series of similar incidents as holidaymakers head to the seaside. Earlier this week, a savage fish attacked an 85-year-old Italian woman while swimming in Majorca 's Palma beach. And in April, a man died after a shark attack off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The remains, discovered after a two-day search, were identified as those of the victim, whom Israeli media named as Barak Tzach, a man in his 40s and a father of four. Environmental changes and increasing water temperatures are believed to push some marine species closer to the shore. In a close encounter with a shark, beachgoers are advised to maintain eye contact and slowly move away, according to Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File. 'If the shark tries to bite you: Hit the shark in the eyes and gills - sensitive areas that can be hurt regardless of personal strength; Hit the shark on the snout and push away - water-resistance weakens your punch,' the file added. However, the number of shark bites recorded around the world last year is markedly down from 2023, according to the shark attack database. In 2024, there were only 47 unprovoked attacks, down by 22 from the previous year and well below the 10-year average of 67.
Daily Record
16-06-2025
- Daily Record
Chilling last words of man dragged away by shark in Mediterranean before body found
A man was fatally attacked by a shark in the Mediterranean Sea. The chilling last words of a man who was fatally attacked by a shark before officials found his body in the sea have been revealed. Barak Tzach stopped at Olga Beach in Hadera, Israel for a swim. He chatted with a friend before entering the water with an underwater camera and snorkeling gear, and his pal warned him not to get into the sea that day. The warning came due to the fact sharks had been circling the shallow waters off the coast of Hadera for days - and some irresponsible beachgoers had even been feeding the creatures, and pulling their tails, reports the Mirror. Local authorities issued warnings condemning this behaviour, urging the public not to go near the sharks. Swimming is technically banned at the beach because a shiver of sandbar and dusky sharks had been approaching the beach for years - but members of the public repeatedly ignored the rules, and swam with them anyway. Shiver sharks weigh about 100 kilograms, and get to about 2.5 metres in size, but dusky sharks are even bigger, growing to four metre long, and weighing a whopping 350 kilograms. The 40-year-old had swum with sharks before - his wife later revealed in a Facebook post - but he never fed or antagonised them, and on this occasion is said by witnesses not to have touched them. His wife Sarit said: "When they started to get too close to him, he used the GoPro's stick to gently push them away. "The fisherman called him back to shore, and Barak started swimming slowly toward him – and then he was attacked." From the beach, witnesses heard him call out his terrifying last words: "I'm bitten, I'm bitten" - before the water around him is said to have turned red, and he was dragged away. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Despite the father of four's desperate calls for help, the attack was fatal - and while his wife insisted that he had only got into the sea to "to dive and document the sharks, not to feed them or play with them," the terrifying incident shows why bathers are banned from entering the water. Authorities conducted an extensive two-day search looking for the 40-year-old, with Deputy Fire Chief Doron Almashali saying in a statement: "After a day and a half of intensive effort, we have found what appears to be part of the missing person. Naturally, these findings must undergo thorough examinations by the Israel Police and the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute. "We will continue working to confirm that we have indeed found the missing individual. We conducted our search pattern based on careful analysis of underwater currents, and it was precisely in that area where the remains were discovered." Shark attacks in Israel are relatively rare, with Barak Tzach the first person to be killed by one since 1940.
Daily Mirror
15-06-2025
- Daily Mirror
Terrifying last words of man dragged away by shark in Mediterranean sea
A man was fatally attacked by a shark in the Mediterranean Sea, but before he was dragged away he shouted out two terrifying last words, that were heard by witnesses on the beach After a long day at work, Barak Tzach, 40, stopped at Olga Beach in Hadera, Israel for a swim. He chatted with a friend before entering the water with an underwater camera and snorkeling gear, and his pal warned him not to get into the sea that day. For days, sharks had been circling the shallow waters off the coast of Hadera - and some irresponsible beachgoers had even been feeding the creatures, and pulling their tails. Local authorities issued warnings condemning this behaviour, urging the public not to go near the sharks. Swimming is technically banned at the beach because a shiver of sandbar and dusky sharks had been approaching the beach for years - but members of the public repeatedly ignored the rules, and swam with them anyway. Shiver sharks weigh about 100 kilograms, and get to about 2.5 metres in size, but dusky sharks are even bigger, growing to four metre long, and weighing a whopping 350 kilograms. Barak Tzach had swum with sharks before - his wife later revealed in a Facebook post - but he never fed or antagonised them, and on this occasion is said by witnesses not to have touched them. "When they started to get too close to him, he used the GoPro's stick to gently push them away," his wife Sarit explained. "The fisherman called him back to shore, and Barak started swimming slowly toward him – and then he was attacked." From the beach, witnesses heard him call out his terrifying last words: "I'm bitten, I'm bitten" - before the water around him is said to have turned red, and he was dragged away. Despite the father of four's desperate calls for help, the attack was fatal - and while his wife insisted that he had only got into the sea to "to dive and document the sharks, not to feed them or play with them," the chilling incident shows why bathers are banned from entering the water. Authorities conducted an extensive two-day search looking for the 40-year-old, with Deputy Fire Chief Doron Almashali saying in a statement: "After a day and a half of intensive effort, we have found what appears to be part of the missing person. Naturally, these findings must undergo thorough examinations by the Israel Police and the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute. "We will continue working to confirm that we have indeed found the missing individual. We conducted our search pattern based on careful analysis of underwater currents, and it was precisely in that area where the remains were discovered." Shark attacks in Israel are relatively rare, with Barak Tzach the first person to be killed by one since 1940. There are a couple of theories about why the sharks have been approaching the coastline more and more, with some locals putting the blame on the behaviour of fishermen. "It's no wonder they attacked. There are fishermen here all the time and their hooks injure the sharks, causing them to bleed. That's why they went after people," said one eyewitness. However, other locals claim that it is because of a nearby local power station, which releases hot water into the Hadera river. "Every winter, a unique phenomenon occurs in Israel in which sharks and rays gather at the outlet of the warm waters of the power stations," the Society for the Protection of Nature said in a statement. "In the case of such a fascinating and public-attracting phenomenon, it would be appropriate to take conservation and safety measures for the public, but over the years, chaos has developed in the area."
Malay Mail
17-05-2025
- Malay Mail
Power plant warms waters, drawing sharks and humans to Israel's Hadera beach
HADERA, May 18 — With its golden sand and blue waters, the beach front in central Israel looks much like any other stretch of Mediterranean coast, but a closer look reveals something unusual peeking through the rippling surf: black shark fins. The sharks are attracted to this patch of water in Hadera during the cold season because of the warmth generated by the turbines of a nearby power station. This has provoked an adrenaline-filled coexistence between the increasingly bold ocean predators and the curious, sometimes even careless, humans who come to swim. Last month, a man who got a little too close was mauled to death as spectators on the beach screamed in terror. All that was left were his bones, rescuers told AFP. Now, bathers, authorities, and environmental and shark experts are asking how such an event, never seen before in Israeli waters, happened and what can be done to prevent it in the future. 'Sharks do not harm and never normally attack unless they feel either threatened or if somebody's getting into their territory,' Irene Nurit Cohn, a member of rescue agency Zaka's scuba unit and a seasoned diver, told AFP. 'I've been diving since 1982. I've seen many sharks in my life, it has been thrilling and beautiful to watch sharks... but they're not, and I repeat, they're not dangerous,' she said. Cohn, who was part of the team that searched for the remains of Barak Tzach, a 45-year-old father of four, added that it was the people visiting the unique site who were 'not behaving as they should.' 'People were touching them and disturbing them,' she said, adding that recent media coverage had drawn even more people to the beach. A shark fin is pictured as Israeli rescue services aboard a personal watercraft search for a missing man in the Mediterranean sea waters off the pier of the port of Hadera on April 22. — AFP pic 'It's dangerous' Immediately after the deadly attack, the local authority erected metal fences with 'danger' signs and blocked an access road into the adjacent nature reserve with a cement barrier. Two weeks later, those had been removed, and life at the beach was back to normal. Friends Einav and Carmel, teenagers from a nearby town, appeared largely undeterred by the recent death. They had come specifically to see the sharks. 'Sharks are my favourite animals and so I really wanted to see them, but we said that we will not go inside (the water) because it's dangerous,' said Carmel. Matan Ben David, a spear-fishing and diving instructor who said he has continued to enter the water, said swimmers should keep a distance and adhere to the rules of the sea. 'Sharks are part of nature, something we have to respect, we have to respect the ocean, we're just visitors here,' he said, describing how he had witnessed people crowding the sharks and taking photographs. 'Sharks are an incredible animal, very majestic but they're an alpha predator and, at the end of the day, a lot of people do not always follow best practices,' Ben David noted. Like all unsupervised beaches in Israel, the one where the fatal attack took place was off-limits to swimming—a ban that is widely flouted. Human-wildlife conflict Leigh Livine, a shark researcher who has been monitoring this area for the past four years, said that initially, research showed 'the sharks were staying away from direct conflict with the humans entering the water.' But 'you have a very, very small space that you see this human-wildlife conflict really coming out at certain times of the year.' Livine said the sharks were a combination of Dusky and Sandbar sharks and that they were present in the area between November and May. But with temperatures rising each year due to climate change, 'you have a lot more bodies in the water coming into conflict with the sharks.' Livine said she was shocked by last month's attack but, with interaction between the sharks and humans increasing, was surprised 'that something hasn't happened sooner.' 'It usually comes down to a conflict of space, either food resources, space resources, and we've been seeing humans harass the sharks, really provoking them,' she said.— AFP
News.com.au
17-05-2025
- News.com.au
'Alpha predator' sharks and humans clash on an Israeli beach
With its golden sand and blue waters, the beach front in central Israel looks much like any other stretch of Mediterranean coast, but a closer look reveals something unusual peeking through the rippling surf: black shark fins. The sharks are attracted to this patch of water in Hadera during the cold season because of the warmth generated by the turbines of a nearby power station. This has provoked an adrenaline-filled coexistence between the increasingly bold ocean predators and the curious, sometimes even careless, humans who come to swim. Last month, a man who got a little too close was mauled to death as spectators on the beach screamed in terror. All that was left were his bones, rescuers told AFP. Now, bathers, authorities, and environmental and shark experts are asking how such an event, never seen before in Israeli waters, happened and what can be done to prevent it in the future. "Sharks do not harm and never normally attack unless they feel either threatened or if somebody's getting into their territory," Irene Nurit Cohn, a member of rescue agency Zaka's scuba unit and a seasoned diver, told AFP. "I've been diving since 1982. I've seen many sharks in my life, it has been thrilling and beautiful to watch sharks... but they're not, and I repeat, they're not dangerous," she said. Cohn, who was part of the team that searched for the remains of Barak Tzach, a 45-year-old father of four, added that it was the people visiting the unique site who were "not behaving as they should." "People were touching them and disturbing them," she said, adding that recent media coverage had drawn even more people to the beach. - 'It's dangerous' - Immediately after the deadly attack, the local authority erected metal fences with "danger" signs and blocked an access road into the adjacent nature reserve with a cement barrier. Two weeks later, those had been removed, and life at the beach was back to normal. Friends Einav and Carmel, teenagers from a nearby town, appeared largely undeterred by the recent death. They had come specifically to see the sharks. "Sharks are my favourite animals and so I really wanted to see them, but we said that we will not go inside (the water) because it's dangerous," said Carmel. Matan Ben David, a spear-fishing and diving instructor who said he has continued to enter the water, said swimmers should keep a distance and adhere to the rules of the sea. "Sharks are part of nature, something we have to respect, we have to respect the ocean, we're just visitors here," he said, describing how he had witnessed people crowding the sharks and taking photographs. "Sharks are an incredible animal, very majestic but they're an alpha predator and, at the end of the day, a lot of people do not always follow best practices," Ben David noted. Like all unsupervised beaches in Israel, the one where the fatal attack took place was off-limits to swimming -- a ban that is widely flouted. - Human-wildlife conflict - Leigh Livine, a shark researcher who has been monitoring this area for the past four years, said that initially, research showed "the sharks were staying away from direct conflict with the humans entering the water." But "you have a very, very small space that you see this human-wildlife conflict really coming out at certain times of the year." Livine said the sharks were a combination of Dusky and Sandbar sharks and that they were present in the area between November and May. But with temperatures rising each year due to climate change, "you have a lot more bodies in the water coming into conflict with the sharks." Livine said she was shocked by last month's attack but, with interaction between the sharks and humans increasing, was surprised "that something hasn't happened sooner." "It usually comes down to a conflict of space, either food resources, space resources, and we've been seeing humans harass the sharks, really provoking them," she said.
