The woman was last seen snorkeling off Keawakapu Point on the Hawaiian island of Maui on December 8, authorities said. Her husband, who was also snorkeling, spotted a shark and rushed to tell his wife but could not find her, Dan Dennison, senior communications manager for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), said in a press briefing.
Dennison said that the man then returned to shore and called 911, but other sources say that the man and woman actually got into a fight with the shark.
Local news KHNL reported that the husband told the authorities that he and his wife fought off the shark, but that only he returned safely to shore. They also said that while the wife did not return, a snorkel and a bathing suit were found washed up nearby.
The species of shark involved is yet to be confirmed, but eyewitnesses say that it was a tiger shark.
“Fortunately, when this all transpired around 1 p.m. here, the locals were out of the water … the report from the hotel staff is that a man and woman were on the water. There was a tiger shark spotted,” Joel Davis, vice president and general manager of WRAL/FOX 50 who happened to be on the beach on vacation, told North Carolina-based WRAL News. “The man made it out safely, but the woman did not and they are out searching.”
Tiger sharks are common in the tropical waters of Hawaii. They can grow to up to 10 feet to 14 feet long, and are the second most frequent shark to be involved in human attacks, National Geographic says.
Hawaii has the second highest rate of shark attacks in the U.S., coming runner up to Florida. In 2021 alone, Hawaii saw six cases of unprovoked shark attacks, data from the Florida Museum shows. Maui also has the highest number of recorded shark attacks of all the Hawaiian islands, with a total of 71 attacks having been recorded since 1828.
The Coast Guard, county first responders and state DLNR officers are searching for the woman in the water and by air, using both helicopters and C130 Hercules planes. The search ceased at nightfall, and is due to continue at daybreak on December 9.
The beach where the incident occurred has been closed, with shark warning signs erected.
“I mean the scary thing about it, at this stage, is there is a person just totally missing,” said beachgoer Peter Gannon, a Canadian tourist, told Hawaii News Now.
The last recorded shark attack in Maui occurred in September, where a woman had her left arm and part of her right hand bitten off by a shark.
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