Screaming tourists run from the water after 7ft shark spotted at popular beach
Terrified tourists were seen running from the sea after an enormous shark was spotted about 100m offshore over the weekend.
The two-metre (6.56ft) animal was spotted on Saturday close to a beach in Le Barcarès, in southern France bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
David Simian, the chief lifeguard on the beach said the evacuation was ordered as a precaution after they saw the dark shape in the water. He said: "Lifeguards took a boat out and saw it was a shark. It was a blue shark that is no threat to humans."
Blue sharks rarely bite humans but lifeguards raised the red flag and banned people from swimming.
A video uploaded on TikTok shows the exact moment of panic when the shark was spotted (@j.a.c.clo/TikTok)David told the Times: "It was also to protect the animal and prevent swimmers from approaching. People had already started gathering at the water’s edge, so we cleared the area as a precaution."
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French newspaper Le Figaro noted that sharks are common during the reproductive season, although not usually so close to the shore.
Forty-seven shark species are known to live off the coast of mainland France and most of them are of no danger to people. Since 1847, only five shark attacks have been reported, according to the International Shark Attack File.
Victor Salvat, another lifeguard at Barcarès, told local radio it was the first time he had seen a shark in the Mediterranean. He said when they went out in the boat to look the beast was very calm and didn’t even react to the noise of the engine.
Victor explained: "We watched it for about five minutes. It circled around us and it was about two metres long. At one point, it ended up under the dinghy, you could see its mouth and tail at the same time, so it was quite big. It was all black. It was really calm."
A video uploaded on TikTok shows the exact moment of panic when the shark was spotted lurking in the shallows with the fin clearly visible in the waters.
One tourist said she was in a restaurant when "all of a sudden people started screaming in all directions". The witness explains they thought the noises were coming from someone drowning and then she heard screams of "shark, shark!".
According to local news sources, swimming was banned for one hour until it was deemed safe by lifeguards to continue leisure activities.
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