Woman’s Disappearance Likely Contributed To Shark Attack

Officials near Maui report that a 60-year-old woman from Washington was most likely killed by an “aggressive” shark while she and her husband were snorkeling 50 yards from the shore.

The woman’s husband admitted to investigators that he and his wife were not snorkeling side by side and that he could only occasionally see her. He claimed that he kept looking for his wife and believed that she might have been diving toward the ocean floor as a shark circled him.

He claimed that the shark swam away as he kept poking his head out of the water to scan the surface for his wife. The shark returned after he had seen something in the distance, and he could see something red around its gills. He claimed that at that point, people on the beach started shouting at him to exit the water because a shark was feeding nearby.

An eyewitness on the beach confirmed the husband’s account, according to a report from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. The witness is the one who reported the incident to 911.

Eyewitnesses said they “saw the shark’s large mouth continuing to feed on something in the middle of the red cloud in the water.”

According to the release, the incident was determined to be a “tragic accident” that was “exacerbated not only by not having their loved one’s body recovered, but also by false information that spread quickly on social media platforms, suggesting that this was something other than what it was,”

The woman’s identity has not been made public, but the U.S. Coast Guard reports that the active search off of south Maui has been suspended after 17 searches totaling 40 hours and 306 miles were conducted.