Woman who vanished off Hawaii was eaten by an 'aggressive' shark, investigation concludes
A US woman who vanished off the coast of Hawaii while snorkelling with her husband earlier this month was killed by an "aggressive" shark, an official investigation has concluded.
The 60-year-old woman - whose body was never found - was vacationing with her husband in Maui when she was fatally mauled by the shark on December 8, Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources said.
The woman's husband told investigators he was snorkelling right next to her, about 50 metres from Keawakapu Point, in the minutes prior to the attack.
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Keawakapu Point in Maui, where the woman was fatally mauled. Google Maps
He said he lost sight of his wife at some stage but presumed she had been "diving toward the ocean floor".
The man then saw the creature, believed to be a tiger shark, in nearby waters with "something red around its gills".
Frantic beachgoers began yelling to the man to return to shore after a number of people reported "a shark feeding in the area".
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The woman's husband told investigators he was snorkelling right next to her, about 50 metres from Keawakapu Point, in the minutes prior to the attack. Getty Images/iStockphoto
One man told investigators he "tried to warn" the couple after noticing "the shark's large mouth continuing to feed on something in the middle of the red cloud in the water".
The man called 911, but it was too late.
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A desperate search for the woman's body was conducted in the days following the attack, but her snorkelling equipment and pieces of her bathing suit were all that was found.
A report conducted by Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources deduced she was killed by the shark.
Though incidents are rare, tiger sharks have been known to attack and kill humans in the past.
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