Skip to Content

Shark Attack Kills Man Swimming in Hawaii

Share The Article

Last Updated


A shark attack in Hawaii has killed a 65-year-old man swimming off the coast of Maui on Saturday Morning. 

The man was swimming 60 yards off Kaanapali Beach when a shark attacked, authorities said. Witness Allison Keller told Hawaii News Now that rescuers pulled an unconscious man ashore, then performed CPR. 

“As we got closer, I saw some blood on his stomach and then I got looking a little bit more and his wrist, it looked like the skin on his wrist was just torn off,” Keller said. “And then I got looking closer and his entire left leg from his knee down was just missing.”

“They pulled the man up. He looked unconscious when they transferred him to the other gurney. And we could see that they were trying to do CPR on him,” said witness Allison Keller.

Rescue workers could not revive the man and witnesses said it was a very traumatic situation. 

Maui Shark Attack

On Sunday, Maui Police spokesman Lt. Gregg Okamoto identified the victim as Thomas Smiley who was vacationing in the area. 

California media said Smiley was an optometrist who had just retired this year

Authorities have since posted signs along a half-mile stretch beach warning people of a shark. 

SHark Attack

The last fatal shark attack in Hawaii was in 2015, when a snorkeler off Maui was killed. in 2018 there were 66 shark attacks worldwide with 5 fatalities recorded. The U.S. has the largest number of unprovoked shark attacks in the world.