On one of the sites I came across a polemic between two natives of one of the settlements on the coast of the Aral Sea (it looks like Aralsk). What the controversy is about - it will be clear from the posts below. I will designate the participants in this controversy as A. and B.
A.:… Yes, I knew that there were sharks in the Aral Sea, but they were gray-eyed sharks; they are small in size, attacked people extremely rarely, and were found mainly in the area of the Lazarev and Tolmachevo islands. They also came close to the island of Kara-Teren, where I spent my childhood, but as far as I can remember, there were only two cases of attacks on local children, and then without a fatal outcome, they gnawed a little.
B.: These slit-eyed gray sharks did not voluntarily change their habitat (near the Lazarev and Tolmachev islands). In the early 60s, several dozen individuals were caught for their experiments by the military from the island of Renaissance. Rumor has it that as a result of these experiments, mutant sharks, giants who easily dealt with humans, occurred.
A.: Perhaps it was. Experiments, as far as I know, were carried out not only on this type of shark, but also on other representatives of the marine fauna, such as sea lions, seals, but the water area in which these experiments were carried out was heavily guarded, and the work itself was classified.
B: The water area for the experiments was fenced off with a metal mesh, but one day a ship tore it as a result of careless maneuvers, and some experimental mutants escaped into the open sea. It was then that the story of their attack on people began.
A.: I have a clipping from some newspaper (it seems - from the "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda") with an article about these mutant sharks - "Robbers of the Aral Sea". And in this article there is such a fragment: "… and when she was gutted, a sailor's belt and boots were found in her stomach …" Probably, after this article, the entire editorial office of this newspaper was dispersed (if they did not act even better with them).
B.: I wonder where this flock of mutant sharks that broke from the secret waters of the Renaissance Island rushed? Probably south, to warmer waters, to Muynak? And the pursuit of her, one must think, was healthy - both by water and by air.
A.: If this flock rushed to Muynak, then not all. I remember well that in the neighboring fishing collective farm "Lenin Zhol" one day they brought from the sea to the shore a fisherman who had already lost consciousness and was bleeding with his leg off. His comrades unanimously asserted that a huge shark snatched him right from the boat at sea. When this fisherman was transported by plane to Aralsk, the first thing a representative of not even the regional or regional, but the republican KGB came to his room, and strictly ordered not to talk about the shark. Like, his leg got under the working propeller of the motor boat.
Promotional video:
B: I have a vague suspicion that a part of this pack approached Aralsk. At one time, rumors began to circulate in the city that something incomprehensible and very dangerous had appeared in the sea …
A.: You have only suspicions, but now I have complete confidence. Do you remember how military patrols went from aisle to a cliff and did not let anyone into the water? And in the pioneer camp they didn't even let me out of the gate.
B: I just received a letter in a personal message. This man, it seems, understands this topic better than you and me. This is what he writes: “You are wrong. There were no sharks in the Aral Sea before these events. Slit gray sharks for experiments on about. The rebirths were brought from Cuba. The gap in the net that surrounded the secret water area was not made by the ship. The sharks broke through it themselves. In the flock that escaped from the pen, there were no individuals less than 5.5 meters in length …"
We agreed to meet soon.
A.: And my relatives from Germany called me, at my request they shoveled through the materials there on this topic and found the article “Monster des Aralsee”. It says, in particular, about an interview with the same Kazakh fisherman from the fishing collective farm "Lenin Zhol", about which I already wrote. He still chatted about the shark to everyone indiscriminately, and he was packed in the Kyzylorda yellow house. Then everything escaped from the enclosure near Fr. Revival (according to NATO classification, this zone had a symbol: “The mudy lagoon”) 17 sharks. Allegedly, 73 attacks on people were recorded, of which 17 were fatal. 11 sharks have been reliably destroyed …
B.: I met in Northern Butovo with the person who wrote to me. He is already in very serious years. Disabled. Instead of the right hand - a prosthesis. He began by saying that experiments with sharks were not carried out at Fr. Renaissance. He and the other sailors had never heard of these sharks before this incident. Later I gradually learned from others who served there that the water area fenced with a metal grid for experiments with slit-like gray sharks brought from Cuba was at a respectful distance from the island. On the perimeter of this "paddock" on high piles there was a structure that served as both an observation post and a laboratory.
And then that day. He scrubbed the deck at one side, and a fellow sailor hung fenders from the other side. A very loud splash, scream … He, like all of us, watches programs about animals, and he has seen enough of all kinds of sharks in these programs, but he says he has never seen a monster of this size that jumped out of the water then. The colleague was caught easily, like a doll. But he himself had something locked up - no feelings, only instincts. Grabs an ax from the fire shield - and into the water. The shark switches to him and grabs his arm along the shoulder along with the ax. Then he drags the first victim under the water. The rest of the crew ran to the side of the shouts. Pulled out, were able to provide first aid …
Immediately demobilized not only him, but all the crew members, witnesses of the incident. They were demobilized on condition not to talk. All gave the appropriate subscription …
At the end of our meeting, he said: “Until now, I often hack this reptile with an ax in my dreams. And the hand seems to be in place …"
Best regards, Yerdaulet Kozhabaev