Surfer, 61, ‘still loves the ocean’ after shark bit his leg off
A surfer managed to swim back to shore after a shark bit his leg off in the waters off Hawaii.
The 61-year-old, named locally as Kenji, was attacked while surfing off the island of Maui’s Waiehu Beach Park on Friday morning.
He had been sat on his board when the shark swam up and bit his leg.
The attack has left Kenji with his right leg ‘completely severed just below the knee’, Maui County said in a statement.
But that didn’t stop him from swimming to safety, an ‘extraordinary’, according to Jeff Giesea, Assistant Chief of the island Fire Department.
Recalling the shark attack, David Basques told Hawaii News Now: ‘I heard this yell and I looked, and all of a sudden I just seen him splash, and I don’t know what was happening.
‘He swam himself back maybe more than half the way and then I seen somebody jump in and they went bring him inside.’
Police officers applied a tourniquet to Kenji’s leg to stem the bleeding, but his leg couldn’t be saved.
He was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Centre in critical condition, but he is ‘recovering well in the ICU’, according to a GoFundMe that’s raised more than £38,000 to support him.
It describes him as ‘the brightest light to show up every morning on the Wai side – rain or shine, howling tradewinds or Maui glass – he is always out there’.
After leaving surgery, Kenji declared ‘I still love the ocean’, the campaign claimed.
The beach has been closed and people have been urged to keep out of the water from Paukukalo to Waihee until further notice.
Shark attacks are rare, but they can be fatal.
Tamayo Perry, a 49-year-old lifeguard who starred in Pirates of the Caribbean, died after he was attacked while surfing off Hawaii’s Goat Island, close to Oahu in June.
First responders said he appeared to have suffered ‘more than one possible shark bite’.
A 20-year-old tourist, Angus Kockott, nearly died when an eight-foot shark left his arm looking like a ‘stripped drumstick’ while snorkeling in May.
He was in the shallow waters of Mangareva, French Polynesia, far south of Hawaii, when a shark appeared from behind a reef, giving him seconds to protect his head and whip out a knife.
The South African said: ‘It was only a little knife, but I’m very glad I had it on that day.
‘After it released my arm, I couldn’t see anything except for a huge pool of blood around me, but I managed to stand up on a reef.
‘My arm was literally squirting blood – it looked like a stripped drumstick.’
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