The women were tourists from Austria and Romania respectively. The two countries’ foreign ministries confirm the deaths to AFP. The Austrian news agency APA reports that the Austrian is a 68-year-old woman who was on holiday in Egypt.
The beaches in the area have been closed for three days. An investigation will find out the “causes and circumstances” behind the shark’s behavior.
Although it is unusual for people to be attacked along the shores of the shark-dense Red Sea, it does happen from time to time.
A Czech tourist was killed in 2018 and a German in 2015. As many as five attacks occurred in as many days outside Sharm el-Sheikh in 2010. A German was killed while four other foreign tourists were injured.