CAIRO, June 2 (Reuters) – A shark attacked and killed a French tourist diving in a remote site off Egypt’s Red Sea coast on Tuesday, in the first fatal shark attack in the Arab country since 2004, state media and a French embassy official said.

“I can confirm that there is one French citizen killed by a shark in the Red Sea south of Marsa Alam,” French embassy spokesman Jean-Marie Safa said.

The woman’s leg showed visible bite marks, and she likely bled to death before being lifted to the surface, Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted a medical source as saying.

Marsa Alam is a remote southern dive spot on the Red Sea coast frequented by tourists hoping to avoid the crowds at more popular sites in the Sinai peninsula, where tourists flock in large numbers for the colourful coral reefs.

“This very rarely happens. It seems that the victim aggravated the shark or presented it with food, which caused a change in the shark’s behaviour,” MENA quoted Amr Ali, the president of the Society for the Preservation of the Red Sea Environment, as saying.

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With less than one week until the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME 6 star rated World Qualifying Series (WQS) 2009 SriLankan Airlines Pro begins in the magnificent Maldives Islands it’s time online surf enthusiasts checked out and registered with the two online game linked to this event.

Go to the events official website at http://www.srilankanairlinespro.com and follow the links to www.fantasyprosurfing.com and www.youriding.com to access these two online games.

Both games have detailed easy to follow instructions on how to play.

Like many sporting games, fantasyprosurfer.com engages participants by choosing a team of surfers with points awarded according to performance while youriding.com tackles the SriLankan Airlines Pro from an interactive wave riding perspective.

Play either or both and you’ll at least feel a little bit like you are in paradise; picture and dream of the perfect peeling points, unbelievable 30 degree Celsius water temperatures, tropical climate where the temperature varies by barely a degree either side of 30 degrees and all set on the luxury Chaaya Island – Dhonveli.

Almost as good as being there in person, maybe!

An awesome field of 128 quality surfers from no less than 20 nations are now heading for the Maldives and expectations will be high that this year’s event can begin where last years left off in perfect 2m surf at the famous Pasta Point.

Surfers will “warm-up” at Pasta Point on Dhonveli Island and they’ll also sample the nearby perfection on offer at breaks like Sultans, Honkies, Lohefushi, Cokes and Chickens.

It’s no wonder this event is a favourite with surfers on the ASP World Qualifying Tour as this is their equivalent of the Dream Tour.

SriLankan Airlines Pro 2009 is made possible thanks to the following sponsors: SriLankan Airlines, John Keells Group, Chaaya Island – Dhonveli, Atoll Travel, Atoll Adventures, Ocean & Earth International, Dhiraagu, Maldives Tourism & Promotions Board, ASP Australasia.

ASP Australasia as the event managers will deliver a quality live Webcast along with Television News Feeds, complimentary Digital Images for newspapers and websites, Web highlight packages and a dedicated 30 minute international television program.

Follow this event live, beginning next Monday at http://www.srilankanairlinespro.com/

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Ericeira 6 Star WQS

Ericeira WQS canceled, scheduling & economy blamed

Lisbon — Considered as one of the prime surf events in Europe and according to EUROSIMA survey one of the most notorious events for the Europeans, the WQS 6 Star stage usually held at Ericeira, Portugal, will not happen in 2009.

The main reasons for canceling this event are the very difficult economic situation together with the difficulty in finding a suitable date to run the event. Originally scheduled to the mid September, between Trestles and Hossegor stages, the event was forced to move as a result of the changing date of Trestles stage, which went forward in the schedule and over Ericeira.

After several months of conversation with both ASP Officials and main sponsors of the event, the agreement was not possible and the event came to be canceled. This Prime event will return in 2010 as one of the best Europeans Surf Contest. Alfarroba would like to thank the huge support from Billabong, Buondi and Mafra City Hall, for the effort put in trying to run the event in 2009.

www.alfarroba.pt
www.aspeurope.com