In response to the attacks, beaches in the popular tourist resort were closed for over a week, dozens of suspected “aggressive” sharks were caught and killed, and the local government issued new rules, regarding the banning of shark-feeding and restrictions on swimming.

Another theory considers the dumping of sheep carcasses in the Red Sea by a livestock transport (during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha) that may have attracted the sharks closer to shore.

Specialists from the Egyptian environment ministry were called in to investigate the incidents and caught a 2.25 metres (7.4 ft)-long oceanic whitetip shark weighing 150 kilograms (330 lb) that was claimed to be the one responsible for the attacks.

The following day, 5 December, 71-year-old German tourist Renata Seifert, who had visited the resort for 11 years, was killed by a Mako shark[7] while swimming in Naama Bay near the Hyatt hotel.

Jochen Van Lysebettens, of the Red Sea Diving College, saw the attack, and told Sky News: "Suddenly there was a scream of help and a lot of violence in the water.

[10] The attacks were widely described as "unprecedented" both in media reports and by Samuel H. Gruber, a marine biologist who studied sharks at the Bimini Biological Field Station in Miami, Florida.

[13] Despite the greater notoriety of other sharks habitually found nearer the shore, the oceanic whitetip is believed to be responsible for many casualties as a result of predation on survivors of shipwrecks.

[citation needed] Mohammed Salam of the South Sinai Conservation organisation, a government body responsible for environmental protection in the area, said that "usually these kinds of sharks don't attack human beings but sometimes they have trouble with their nervous system and they accidentally go after people.

"[5] The chairman of the Sharm El Sheikh Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) suggested that attacks might have been due to overfishing, which is an ongoing problem in the area.

It listed possible contributory factors as including "one or more incidents of illegal dumping of animal carcasses in nearby waters; depletion of natural prey in the area caused by overfishing; localised feeding of reef fish and/or sharks by swimmers, snorkellers and some divers; and unusually high water temperatures in Sharm El Sheikh.

Egyptian television broadcast claims from South Sinai governor Mohamed Abdul Fadil Shousha that Israeli divers captured a shark with a GPS unit planted on its back, allegedly by Mossad.

Describing the theory as "sad", Professor Mahmoud Hanafy of the Suez Canal University pointed out that GPS devices are used by marine biologists to track sharks, not to remote-control them.

[19][20] Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha himself ultimately said he thought the dumping of sheep carcasses during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha on 16 November was the most likely explanation.