ST OUEN’S Bay became the first Jersey beach ever to be closed due to a shark sighting this weekend.

Lifeguards cleared the water after the dark grey animal – estimated to be between 10ft and 12ft long – was spotted at around 10.40am on Saturday about 40 metres from the shoreline.

RNLI lifeguards raised the red flag across the whole bay and asked swimmers and surfers to leave the water while they searched for the animal.

Lifeguard Tom Rolls, who was on duty on Saturday, said the alert initially seemed too extraordinary to believe.

“We got the call through from one of the guards at Watersplash, and he basically said that a shark had been spotted in the lineup,” he said.

“Initially, we were like, ‘that’s a joke, you’re having us on here’. But then he was persistent. He said multiple sightings had been seen by members of the public.”

Mr Rolls said a fellow lifeguard paddling on a rescue board had one of the closest encounters with the animal, which entered the bay from the west and headed south.

“Nick paddled right over it, and he said it looked definitely more like a shark than anything else,” he said.

“He even said he kind of punched it as he was paddling, so it must have been really close to the surface.

“It was darkish grey, about 10 to 12 feet long, and then it swam away really quickly from under his board.”

Because the species could not immediately be identified, supervisors decided to close the beach until it could be confirmed that the animal had left the area or that it was not a threat to humans.

Mr Rolls used the public-address system at La Braye to ask people to leave the water calmly.

“Everyone was super calm about it,” he said. “There were lots of surprised looks, obviously – us included – as it’s never happened before.

“It’s the first time in history that Jersey has closed the beach for a shark sighting.”

A rescue jet ski was then launched to patrol the length of the bay for around half an hour, searching both close to shore and in deeper water.

Lifeguards also towed one swimmer back to the beach after spotting him still in the water following the announcement.

When no further sign of the shark was found, the red flags were lowered and the bay reopened around an hour after the initial sighting.

No injuries or incidents were reported.

Mr Rolls said the animal appeared similar to the type of shark which washed ashore in the east of the Island earlier this year, although it was not formally identified.

A 4.3-metre-long smalltooth sand tiger shark was discovered at Greve d’Azette in June.