30 August 2007

MADRID - Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, a shark sighting - the second in as many weeks - has led authorities to close several tourist-packed beaches in southeastern Spain.

A life guard and several bathers spotted the 1.5-meter (5-foot) shark just 10 meters (yards) off the coastaline Wednesday afternoon, said Luis Gestoso, the head of Civil Protection in Murcia.

Seven beaches in the tourist area of La Manga del Mar Menor were immediately closed, and signs warned beachgoers of the sighting, Gestoso said.

''It's very rare to see a shark so close to the beach, now we're trying to find out if he's ill,'' Gestoso said. He said a team of biologists, and veterinarians were at sea trying to follow his trail and would try to capture him with a special cage to move him to a marine reserve ecosystem.

It is the second shark sighted on the Spanish coastline this month.

On Aug. 23, a 2-meter (7-foot) female sandbar shark was captured in shallow waters in northeastern Spain, where it had become a novelty for tourists by swimming regularly into plain view.

The shark died at the Barcelona Aquarium, and biologists determined that its dorsal fin had been punctured by a harpoon, and that the animal also had some kind of internal problem, possibly from swallowing an object.

[Copyright AP with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news