11/18/02

Visitor runs into shark, lives to tell. Woman is bitten on right shoulder, forearm; W. Maui beaches closed

A past triathlete swimming 200 yards off Kaanapali was attacked by a shark Sunday morning.

The woman, a visitor from San Diego, received severe lacerations to her right shoulder and right forearm and was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center. Hospital staff reported that she was in stable condition Sunday night.

The attack occurred around 10:45 a.m. in waters off Embassy Vacation Resorts Kaanapali, police said.

Beaches were closed a mile in either direction, from Honokowai to Black Rock, and were expected to remain closed until at least noon today, said ocean-safety supervisor Archie Kalepa. Ocean-safety officers, Department of Land and Natural Resources staff and Maui Fire Department personnel, using the Air One helicopter, patrolled the area.

The woman said she was quite a way offshore and swimming alone, beyond other surfers and swimmers, said medic Trish Morine of American Medical Response. “She was out swimming and had goggles and fins, she said, and she felt that she kind of ran into the shark, collided with it,” Morine said.

The woman was bitten on her shoulder and hand, and said she started trying to swim in. Other swimmers helped her make it the rest of the way in, and people on the beach used towels to apply pressure to the wound and stop the bleeding before medics arrived.