A 65-year-old man from California has died in a suspected shark attack while swimming off the coast of Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday. The incident occurred approximately 60 yards from the shore in the Kaanapali Shores area of western Maui.
A witness in a nearby hotel raised the alarm, prompting rescuers to deploy a jet ski and helicopter to locate the man. Despite efforts to perform CPR, he was pronounced dead at the scene. His injuries were consistent with a shark attack, according to local news outlet KHON2.
This marks the sixth shark-bite incident in Hawaii this year and the first fatal one since 2015, according to the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources. Only five fatal shark attacks have been recorded in Hawaii since 1995.
Shark expert Michael Domier told KHON2: “Your chances of getting attacked by a shark and even surviving is less than one in 12 million.” The species of shark involved has not yet been confirmed.
Globally, sharks kill an average of six people per year, according to the International Shark Attack File. The organisation notes that shark bites are rising slowly due to more people in the water, but fatality rates have declined for decades. Meanwhile, overfishing kills about 100 million sharks and rays annually.
