VLADIVOSTOK, August 27 (Itar-Tass) —— The authorities in the Primorsky Territory lifted the ban for bathing only at specially equipped beaches in the Khasan district of the territory. The swimming is still banned at unequipped beaches and on the islands in the Pyotr Veliky Bay. The ban for bathing is still in effect in the settlements of Slavyanka, Andreyevka, Ryazanovka, Bezverkhovo, Posyet, Zarubino and off the Nazimov Spit, a source in the emergency response headquarters said at a meeting on Saturday. The emergency response headquarters was set up to search for sea predators, which are attacking people in the Primorsky Territory.
“The territory of the specially equipped beach should be fenced off. Meanwhile, the rescuers should work on this beach and should patrol the sea area off the coast,” the source said.
The Primorsky territorial emergency service urged again the guests and residents in the territory to refrain temporarily from swimming in the sea and taking aquatic attractions in the Sea of Japan (the East Sea) off the Primorsky coast.
The shark attacked a man after a week-long interval on Saturday. The shark attacked Pavel Nechayev, 26, a resident from the settlement of Slavyanka in the Khasan district of the Primorsky Territory. He was holidaymaking in the Chirok lagoon in the Slavyanka Bay. The young man was picking up the sea stars in the shallow waters on Saturday morning. He was standing in the water up to his knees, when the shark suddenly jumped out from the water and bit him in the shoulder.
“He received few forearm bites. His life is out of danger. He was prescribed with outpatient treatment and was permitted to go home,” a source at the Khasan district hospital told Itar-Tass.
The authorities in the Khasan district of the territory lifted the ban for bathing on Friday. The ban was introduced on August 18 after two attacks of the sharks. Meanwhile, the sea patrolling was reinforced off the popular beaches. When the ban for bathing was lifted, detailed recommendations were not given, therefore, thousands of weekenders were feeling themselves safely at all beaches in southern Primorsky Territory.
The first shark attack in the Primorsky Territory was reported on August 17 in the Telyakovsky Bay in the south of the Khasan district. A 25-year-old young man received numerous severe hip and bodily wounds, and the shark bit off his hands. The predator attacked the man again on August 18, but already much far to the north from the Zheltukhin Island. A 16-year-old teenager received severe leg injuries. The life of both injured people is already out of danger. They are undergoing treatment at the Vladivostok hospitals. The Khasan district chief introduced the full ban for bathing right after these attacks.
Meanwhile, the search for the sea predator is futile so far. Nine fishing vessels are searching for the shark. The shark hunters have searched through all bays in the Khasan district. Four motorboats and six cutters are also monitoring the sea area. The vessels did not find the traces of the man eater off the popular beaches in southern Primorsky Territory, though they were seeking to attract the sharks by the pig’s blood and pieces of poultry meat.
The scientists affirmed that several sharks of different species attacked people. According the descriptions given by the eyewitnesses, the sharks are white shark and blue-grey Maco shark, which came to the Primorye coast in the pursuit for migrating fish schools.
The scientists believe that the sharks will leave the Primorsky coastal waters themselves soon. The sea predators can leave the Primorsky sear area in the middle of September, when the water temperature will start going down in the Pyotr Veliky Bay.