Just after 12 pm on Sunday, the red flags were raised on Fuengirola beach, packed with holiday makers enjoying the last weekend of August.
It turns out some bathers had spotted what looked like a four-meter-long shark swimming in the shallow water just off the beach and immediately reported the sighting to lifeguards.
The Guardia Civil immediately sent out a patrol boat, searching along the coast for the shark and by 5 p.m., no further sightings had occurred and the beach was once again reopened for swimmers.
Alerta por tiburón en #Fuengirola pic.twitter.com/7VMrywli7q— Predator Desert (@predator_desert) August 28, 2016
Shark sightings are unusual off the beach in Fuengirola - in fact, you are far more likely to be inundated with jellyfish. However in July, a swimmer was bitten by a shark when swimming off a beach in Elche, Alicante.
Source: The Local
