A group of amateur fishermen in Russia's Far East were in for a shock Friday after hauling in their catch and finding two large sharks were snagged in their nets.
Videos posted on YouTube and broadcast by the Primorye region's Vesti television channel showed the sharks —each about two meters long — moving their jaws as they lay on a sandy beach, while somber-looking fishermen moved cautiously about them.?
"It's frightening to even walk past it, it could bite a leg off" one of the fishermen said in the video. "Quite the monster."
A YouTube user commented that the "fishing trip was a success, but will the beach season be?"
The Primorye has seen a number of shark attacks in recent years, and Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov ordered officials earlier this month to ensure that local children will be safe at the beach during the summer vacation, Interfax reported.
A senior ministry official for Primorye, Leonid Makovetsky, said nets would be installed around beaches in the Khasan district — an area where shark attacks have previously been reported— and that beaches would be closed to visitors if sharks appeared, the report said.
In August 2011 alone, three shark attacks were reported in Khasan, Interfax reported.
A 25-year-old man who fought back to protect his wife from a shark lost both his hands in the battle, the report said.
See also:
'Wrong' Shark Caught in Primorye