Beachgoers in Jersey were forced to evacuate the water on Saturday following a rare shark sighting close to the shore.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) closed off St Ouen’s Bay for 45 minutes after two lifeguards spotted the creature around 40 metres from the water’s edge.

One lifeguard reported seeing the dark grey shark, which was around 3.6m long, swim directly beneath their rescue board.

A spokesperson for RNLI said: “Lifeguards at St Ouen’s Bay responded to a suspected shark sighting off the coast on the morning of Saturday 1st August, by one of our lifeguards in the water.

“A decision was made to red flag the beach and get all members of the public out of the water as a precaution. The team then used a jet ski to survey the area, before concluding that there was no further sign.

“The beach was red flagged for 45 minutes. There have been no sightings since.”

Surf instructor Jesse Heddercott, 16, was teaching people to surf when lifeguards cleared people from the water.

He told BBC: “Nothing like this has ever happened in Jersey before, so it's pretty crazy.”

According to Mr Heddercott, a lifeguard first spotted the shark swimming under him on a rescue board, but thought it might have been a tuna.

“But then another lifeguard spotted it and it was confirmed to be - probably - a shark,” he told the broadcaster.

“They red-flagged the beach and we all had to get out.”

It is not known what species the shark was, but Mr Heddercott said it would have been “more scared of us than we are of them”.

The sighting comes less than a month after a 4ft-long shark was spotted by a member of public in Weymouth, Dorset.

Hayley Roberts, a marine engagement assistant for the Dorset Wildlife Trust, confirmed that it was a blue shark, which she said were usually in UK waters at this time of year.

“This species has an elongated, slender shape, a long conical snout, long pointed pectoral fins, and a metallic blue body.

“Blue sharks, particularly a dominance of females, are usually present in UK waters from May to October, when water conditions are favourable and there is an abundance of prey.

“They are usually spotted well offshore, so to see one in a harbour is quite rare, although it does happen from time to time.

“In recent years there has been an increase in blue shark sightings, alongside other shark species such as porbeagle and thresher sharks, off the south coast.”