A woman has suffered a “serious” shark bite and had to be rushed to hospital after the terrifying encounter when she was snorkelling.
The 51-year-old woman, from France, was believed to have been snorkelling at the time in murky waters at the Pāʻia Beach Park in Honolulu, Hawaii.
She didn’t see the killer predator's silent approach while she was around 100ft from the shore.
The shark launched its savage attack around 4:10pm local time and reportedly left the woman in a critical condition.
Other beachgoers managed to get her back ashore before emergency personnel arrived and rushed her to Maui Memorial Medical Center.
Officials shut all access to three beaches - Baldwin Beach Park, Lower Pāʻia Beach Park and Kuau Bay Beach Park - and they are scheduled to reopen at 7 a.m. on Monday.
The areas were also plastered with warning signs by personnel from the DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources and Maui Ocean Safety Officers.
Authorities recorded two previous close encounters with sharks this year.
Back in March a scuba diver was nipped on their right big toe by a six-foot Galapsgos shark and one month earlier a cookiecutter shark launched an attack on someone who was floating over a mile off shore, biting at their right lower leg.
