Killer: Diver Gary Young took this image of a oceanic white-tip shark near Sharm el-Sheikh. Experts have identified it as the shark behind a fatal attack at the Red Sea resort
A grandfather has spoken of the moment he came face to face with the killer shark believed to have been terrorising Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh.
Gary Young, 65, was scuba diving in ten-metre deep water when he spotted the 7ft oceanic white-tipped shark.
The deadly creature came within six feet of the father-of-two as he captured the frightening moment in a series of photographs on his underwater camera.
Attacks: A sign on the beach at the popular Red Sea resort says swimming is prohibited after one tourist was killed and four others injured by sharks
Mr Young, a retired BT manager, had his pictures sent to three international experts investigating the spate of shark attacks at the Egyptian resort.
They identified it as the shark which killed a 70-year-old German tourist just three days earlier and possibly mauled another swimmer.
The experts identified the female shark because of the distinctive pattern on its dorsal fin and a small nick in its tail fin.
Mr Young, of Felixstowe, Suffolk, said: 'It was a little unnerving to find out afterwards that I had been up close to a killer shark.
'I just stayed calm and did not make any sudden movements which could have encouraged it to attack me.
Menace: Guests are warned out of the water at the Hyatt Regency Hotel
'It is the closest I have got to a shark in the five years that I have been diving. I certainly would not want to get any closer.
'It certainly did not put me off going back into the water. You just have to treat these creatures with respect.'
Mr Young took the pictures last Tuesday when he dived off an area known as Shark Reef in the Ras Mohamed national park.
Egyptian authorities had banned all diving at Sharm el-Sheikh two days earlier after the female tourist was killed in front of horrified swimmers.
At least four other tourists are thought to have been injured in shark attacks in recent weeks.
Shut: Officials had claimed the water was safe to go back into after two sharks were captured, but then the German tourist was killed
Mr Young said: 'The authorities decided to allow experienced divers like me back into the water a couple of days after the German woman died.
'I was with three other divers on an hour-long dive. We were exploring the reef and looking at the fish and sea life.
'I looked back at my dive buddies and saw they had stopped and there was this shark coming towards us.
'We moved into the reef, as we had been instructed to do if we saw a shark. The idea was that we would blend into the reef and any shark would be less likely to see us as a threat.
'She came within two metres or so as I took my pictures. She didn't seem aggressive at all.
'It occurred to me that it could have been the shark which had attacked people and it is fair to say I was a bit apprehensive.'
source: dailymail
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