Tourists and locals fearing for their safety have been banned from going into the sea due to a shark sighting off a popular Spanish beach.
Coastguards hoisted the red flag and called emergency services after the fin of a seven-foot blue shark was seen above the water line, perilously close to the coast.
Shocking video showed the shark patrolling the water near a boat, just off the coast of the Arenal d’en Castell beach around 3.30pm.
The bathing ban is thought to have been lifted, although the local council covering the area has not yet made any official comment on social media.
The shark sighting is believed to be the first so far this year near a Costa beach.
A shark was spotted on the same beach in June 2018 when swimmers were also banned from entering the water for the entire afternoon.
Tourists have been banned from swimming at the beach following a sighting on Monday
The Arenal d’en Castell beach in Menorca, a popular destination also home to sharks
Blue sharks, among the most common in Spain, have been blamed for a number of beach closures which have affected holidaymakers in Spain.
Last June, a tiger shark was seen inside the Ciutadella Port in Menorca, video showing the predator slowly circling boats moored as people leaned over to look.
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Two sharks were spotted within days of each other in the area, prompting wider concerns for safety.
Last summer, British holidaymakers in Malaga were also rushed out of the water after a shark’s dorsal fin was seen protruding from the waves.
Dozens massed on the beach near Torremolinos to catch a glimpse of the beast – the fifth such sighting off the Spanish coast in the space of a month.
When another blue shark was spotted off the Arenal d’en Castell beach five years ago, a tourist could be overheard saying in English as it appeared in the surf: ‘It’s coming. Oh my God, I think it’s dead.’
A woman, believed to be a relative, replied ‘No, it’s not dead’ as other tourists started screaming in the background before she added: ‘Every time we go to the beach something happens.’
Blue sharks rarely bite humans but have been implicated in several biting incidents, four of which are said to have ended fatally.
A blue shark was blamed for an attack on a holidaymaker in Elche near Alicante in July 2016.
The 40-year-old victim was rushed to hospital and given stitches to a wound in his hand.
First aiders described the bite as ‘large’ and said he had come out of the sea with blood streaming from the injury.
In June last year a fully grown blue shark measuring some seven feet caused panic off the Costa Blanca beach of Aguamarina in Orihuela Costa south of Alicante.
Sharks are a fairly common sighting in the region and often come up to the shoreline
Authorities were called immediately when a shark approached the beach yesterday afternoon
Bathers were filmed trying to run to safety through waist-high water as it neared the shoreline.
Lifeguards blew on their whistles to warn locals and holidaymakers about the big fish and urge them to get out of the sea as quickly as possible.
One woman, thought to have been an elderly person seen being helped out of the water by Good Samaritans, is said to have suffered a panic attack after realising the shark was beside her.
It washed up dead the following day by rocks at La Caleta Beach in Cabo Roig a couple of miles away.
The same day it emerged the same species of shark had been spotted inside Ciutadella Port in Menorca.