A visitor from Kansas has been hospitalized for a bite wound to his left forearm following an attack by a 10- to 12-foot tiger shark at Hapuna Beach around noon Wednesday.
The 58-year-old man from Overland Park, Kansas, was transported from North Hawaii Community Hospital to The Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman told West Hawaii Today around 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Beaches from Waialea to Mauna Kea were evacuated, and the shark continued to cruise just outside the surf line at Hapuna an hour after the attack. A Hawaii County Fire Department helicopter tracked the animal and confirmed seeing stripes on the shark’s body.
Numerous snorkelers were in the water about 20 yards off a point at the south end of the beach when the shark attacked, and several bystanders helped bring the injured man ashore, ocean safety officers said. Police said the man had been snorkeling with his family at the time.
“There was commotion in the water and we responded. Initially we didn’t know what happened,” lifeguard Paul Tucker said. “Then we saw bystanders dragging him in.”
Lifeguards helped the man, whose identity has not yet been released, to the shore and put a tourniquet over the injured arm while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Police said besides the “severe lacerations” to his forearm, the man also suffered lacerations to his left thigh.
Kevin MacDonald, a visitor from Calgary, Canada, sat high away from the closed beach and used a pair of binoculars to track the shape of the restlessly moving animal. He had been body surfing an hour earlier when he saw the shadow of the shark about 30 feet away, MacDonald said.
“I could see him in the face of the wave,” MacDonald said.
Later, he said, “I turned and looked toward shore, and I could see people waving everybody in.”
The beaches will remain closed until at least until noon tomorrow, Acting Battalion Chief John Whitman said. A county helicopter will fly an 11 a.m. sweep of the beaches Thursday to make sure they are clear, Whitman said.