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Shark-bite victim on Maui released from hospital
By Wendy Osher
Special to the Star-Bulletin
POSTED: 08:31 a.m. HST, Oct 19, 2009
An estimated 6- to 8-foot shark took a bite out of a surfer's board this morning off Kihei, Maui, just moments before biting again, this time into the man's right leg, said state officials.
The 54-year-old man was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center with deep lacerations to his upper thigh and lower ankle, officials said. He was able to walk across the street following the incident to call authorities, they said, and he was released from the hospital by mid morning
The man was surfing in the "Kalama Bowls" area of the beach park shortly after 6:00 a.m. when he was bitten on the upper right thigh and the lower part of his right ankle, according to Maui County officials. State and county officials said that the bite marks are "consistent with" a tiger shark.
"If you look at our ten tips to avoid shark incidents, this incident appears to have violated most of the top ones," said Russell Sparks, education specialist with the Hawaii Division of Aquatics Resources. "There were two other people in the area, no one else around, it was very early in the morning, well before sunrise, and the water was all turned up and murky in the area because of the surf."
He was between 100 and 300 feet off shore when the incident occurred, and one of only three people in the water at the time. A fellow surfer helped the injured man out of the water and across the street to the Foodland parking lot where they called 911 at about 6:13 a.m.
The beach, from the south end of Kamaole 1 Beach Park to Waiohuli Road in Kihei, South Maui, will be closed to beachgoers until sunset. State and county personnel will patrol and monitor the shoreline and near shore waters today, and an assessment of the safety of the area will be made tomorrow morning, officials said.
An estimated 6- to 8-foot shark took a bite out of a surfer's board this morning off Kihei, Maui, just moments before biting again, this time into the man's right leg, said state officials.
The 54-year-old man was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center with deep lacerations to his upper thigh and lower ankle, officials said. He was able to walk across the street following the incident to call authorities, they said, and he was released from the hospital by mid morning
The man was surfing in the "Kalama Bowls" area of the beach park shortly after 6:00 a.m. when he was bitten on the upper right thigh and the lower part of his right ankle, according to Maui County officials. State and county officials said that the bite marks are "consistent with" a tiger shark.
"If you look at our ten tips to avoid shark incidents, this incident appears to have violated most of the top ones," said Russell Sparks, education specialist with the Hawaii Division of Aquatics Resources. "There were two other people in the area, no one else around, it was very early in the morning, well before sunrise, and the water was all turned up and murky in the area because of the surf."
He was between 100 and 300 feet off shore when the incident occurred, and one of only three people in the water at the time. A fellow surfer helped the injured man out of the water and across the street to the Foodland parking lot where they called 911 at about 6:13 a.m.
The beach, from the south end of Kamaole 1 Beach Park to Waiohuli Road in Kihei, South Maui, will be closed to beachgoers until sunset. State and county personnel will patrol and monitor the shoreline and near shore waters today, and an assessment of the safety of the area will be made tomorrow morning, officials said.
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