The eThekwini Municipality has dismissed claims that a great white shark was stranded at a beach in Durban.
According to the municipality’s Facebook page, the pictures making the rounds on the platform are fake news.
“The public is advised that a post claiming that a shark has washed up on a Durban beach are nothing but fake news. No such incident has occurred at any of eThekwini's beaches,” said eThekwini Municipality.
This comes after a Facebook user, Stephen Stapelberg, posted five pictures of a great white shark stranded on the shore of a beach with some pictures showing civilians trying to help the shark get back in the water.
The pictures look AI-generated and their authenticity is questionable.
Stapelberg’s captioned the pictures in his Tuesday, March 28 post: “Ushaka Durban washed out this morning!”. It quickly went viral with 9.3K comments and 13K shares.
This prompted the municipality to nip the rumours in the bud before things got out of hand.
According to Shark Cage Diving Durban’s website, great white sharks are mostly seen in the Cape because they have a constant food supply – seals.
“They pass through our waters on their migration but are very rarely seen,” said Shark Cage Diving Durban.
The site also revealed that their last sighting of a great white shark at Durban’s Aliwal Shoal was in 2015.
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