Suspected shark attack closes Israeli beach as police search for swimmer, nature groups plead for intervention

Hadera, Israel — Israeli police on Tuesday were scouring the waters off the country's Mediterranean coast for a swimmer who they fear may have been attacked by a shark, in an area that for decades has seen close encounters between marine predators and beachgoers who sometimes seek them out. A shiver of endangered dusky and sandbar sharks has been swimming close to the area for years, attracting onlookers who approach the sharks and drawing pleas from conservation groups for authorities to separate people from the wild animals.

Nature groups say those warnings went unheeded and, on Monday, police were forced to launch a search after receiving reports that a swimmer was attacked by a shark on a beach near the Israeli city of Hadera. The beach near Hadera was closed off on Tuesday as search teams scoured the sea by boat and underwater equipment for the swimmer. The man's identity was not immediately known, but Israeli media said he had gone to swim with the sharks.

Israelis flocked in large numbers to the beach during a weeklong holiday, sharing the waters with a dozen or more sharks. Some tugged on the sharks' fins, while others threw them fish to eat.