A 66-year-old Washington state woman was injured in a suspected shark attack in waters off Charley Young Beach in Kihei this morning.
Maui County Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said the woman sustained injuries to her lower leg, and was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center in serious condition after the attack, which occurred shortly before 10 a.m.
The woman, a part-time Kihei resident, had been snorkeling in waters about 40 feet from the shore at a depth of seven feet when the attack occurred, according to a state Department of Land and Natural Resources news release.
A nearby stand-up paddleboarder heard the woman yell for help an responded to the scene. The paddler pulled the woman onto the board and brought her to shore. Also, a visitor from Washington state swam out to assist her.
Two nurses and a firefighter from the mainland who were on vacation treated the woman on the beach before lifeguards arrived, according to a Maui County Fire Department news release.
Comment: Website Space Weather noted a geomagnetic storm on Friday 14th October 2016 (though it began early on Thursday 13th):
'GEOMAGNETIC STORM UNDERWAY: Auroras are dancing around the Arctic Circle on Oct. 14th as Earth slowly exits the magnetized wake of a CME that struck two days ago. Currently, geomagnetic storms are flickering between categories G1 and G2.
WHAT'S NEXT? On Oct. 15th, another disturbance is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. This time it's coming from a coronal hole -- a gap in the sun's atmosphere from which solar wind flows:
More documentation of this increasing phenomenon: