A 60-year-old Washington woman was likely killed by an “aggressive” shark while she and her husband snorkeled 50 yards offshore near Maui, authorities say.
The woman’s husband told investigators that he and his wife were not diving next to each other and that he could only see her from time to time. As a shark circled him, he said he was still looking for his wife and thought she might have been diving to the bottom of the ocean.
He told officers the shark swam away while he continued to search for his wife by sticking its head out of the water and scanning the surface. He saw something in the distance and then the shark came back, and he could see something red around the shark’s gills. At that point, he said, people on the beach began yelling at him to get out of the water because a shark was feeding in the area.
The husband’s statement was corroborated by an eyewitness on the beach, an update from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) said. The witness is the one who called 911 to report the incident.
HAWAIIAN AUTHORITIES SUSPEND SEARCH FOR MISSING WOMAN IN MAUI WATERS
Rescuers are searching Thursday for a woman whose husband said she went missing while snorkeling after she saw a shark off Maui, Hawaii.
(Courtesy: KMGB)
The witness “saw the large mouth of the shark continue to feed on something in the middle of the red cloud in the water,” authorities said.
It was concluded that the incident was a “tragic accident” that was “exacerbated not only by the failure to recover the body of your loved one, but by misinformation that spread rapidly on social media platforms, suggesting that this was something different.” than it was”, the release reads.
MAUI, HAWAII OFFICIALS SEARCH FOR WOMAN AFTER HUSBAND REPORTS POSSIBLE ENCOUNTER WITH SHARKS WHILE SNORKELING
Rescuers are searching Thursday for a woman whose husband said she went missing while snorkeling after she saw a shark off Maui, Hawaii.
(Courtesy: KMGB)
Rescuers are searching Thursday for a woman whose husband said she went missing while snorkeling after she saw a shark off Maui, Hawaii.
(Courtesy: KMGB)
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The woman’s name has not been released, but according to the US Coast Guard, the active search in South Maui has been suspended after 17 searches over the course of 40 hours that covered an area of 306 miles.
“DLNR is asking people who post misinformation and conspiracy theories anonymously to stop and think about how they would react if they were in the same situation,” the department wrote. “Social media can be a powerful information-sharing tool or mouthpiece for wildly hurtful and inaccurate comments directed at people dealing with tragedy.”
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
