(NEW YORK) — Hawaii Island police said they’re investigating a possible shark attack that injured a 20-year-old man visiting the island from Romania.
The man was swimming about 15 to 20 feet offshore at Anaeho’omalu Bay in Waikoloa at the time, the Hawaii Police Department said.
Around 5:30 p.m. Monday, he felt pain on his right foot and saw lacerations “bleeding profusely” on the top and bottom of his foot, police said.
The man was hospitalized in non-life-threatening condition with injuries medical personnel described as consistent with a shark bite, police said.
The victim and two people near him in the water didn’t spot a shark, police added.
The potential attack comes days after a well-known surfer and lifeguard was killed by a shark near the North Shore of Oahu, emergency officials said.
Tamayo Perry, 49, had been a lifeguard with Honolulu Ocean Safety since 2016. He was a local surf coach and competed for years in the Pipeline Master Trials, according to his official bio on his coaching site. Perry appeared in the 2002 movie Blue Crush, along with episodes of Hawaii Five-O and The Bridge, according to IMDb.
“The world knew Tamayo as a surfer and an actor, but to those who knew him best, he was a man of deep faith … now taken too soon,” his wife, Emilia Perry, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “I feel so upset and devastated. But I also have a weird calmness in my heart knowing that he’s in a better place.”
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