Dec. 14 (UPI) — Officials on Hawaii‘s largest island have erected shark warning signs along the South Kohala coast after a second person was attacked in the state in less than a week.
The signs were distributed Tuesday around Hawaii Island’s Anaeho’omaly Bay after a man in his 60s was bit by a 12-foot tiger shark while out for a morning swim along the coast, the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a statement.
The Hawaii Police Department identified the victim as a 68-year-old Waikoloa man. Authorities said his lower left torso was bit by the shark as he swam about 400 yards off shore at 8 a.m.
“The swimmer attempted to fend off the shark with a diving knife and the shark released the swimmer,” the department said in a statement.
The man is listed in stable condition and was to be transported to Oahu, which is on the same island as Honolulu, for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
The incident occurred less than a week after a 60-year-old woman from Washington State disappeared Thursday after her husband and other witnesses reported that she had been attacked by a shark.
Officials said the presumed attack happened before noon Thursday while the woman and her husband were snorkeling about 50 yards off shore at Keawakapu Point in south Maui.
Authorities said the woman’s husband had reported that he saw a shark while snorkeling but couldn’t see his wife, whom he reported missing after returning to shore.
The man said the shark had made several passes while he was in the water.
A search was launched but was called off Friday. The woman has not been found.
The two attacks are the most recent shark encounters since Oct. 25 when a shark bit part of a snorkelers’ swim fin.
According to state statistics, there have been eight incidents involving sharks in Hawaii this year.
