HADERA, Israel — Israeli police on Tuesday scoured the Mediterranean coast for a swimmer they fear may have been attacked by a shark in an area that has long 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, drawing pleas from conservation groups for authorities to separate people from the wild animal.
Nature groups say those warnings went unheeded. Police and rescue workers launched a search along the coast after reports that a shark attacked a swimmer on a beach near the city of Hadera. Israel's Fire and Rescue Authority announced Tuesday afternoon they had found remains of a body, which was brought to the forensic institute for identification.
On Tuesday, the beach was closed as search teams used boats and underwater equipment to look for the man. His 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. Dusky sharks can grow to 4 meters (13 feet) long and weigh about 350 kilograms (750 pounds). Sandbar sharks are smaller, growing to about 2.5 meters (8 feet) and 100 kilograms (220 pounds).
Yigael Ben-Ari, head of marine rangers at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said it was not known how the man behaved around the sharks. But he said the public should know not to enter the water when sharks are present and not to touch or play with them.
One video shared by Israeli media showed a shark swimming right up to bathers in thigh-deep water.
''What a huge shark!'' the man filming exclaims, as the shark approaches him. ''Whoa! He's coming toward us!''
