Cause of death revealed for Washington woman who went missing after snorkelling in Hawaii

The 60-year-old woman from Washington State was snorkelling off the coast of Maui last week with her spouse

A tourist who vanished off the south coast of Maui while snorkelling this month was likely eaten by a shark, two investigations found.

The woman, 60, was visiting from Washington state with her husband, who saw the shark and began looking futilely for his wife on 8 December, according to a release from Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. The couple have not been named and no body has been found, though a snorkel set and piece of a bathing suit were recovered.

The incident at Keawakepu Beach was classified as a fatal shark attack by the department’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE) and as a fatal miscellaneous accident by the Maui Police Department, which conducted a “collaborative” and “parallel” investigation.

The victim’s husband told investigators he “encountered an ‘aggressive’ shark shortly after entering the water to snorkel about 50-yards off-shore,” the release stated. “He said he and his wife were not snorkeling right next to one another and he could only see her from time to time. As the shark continued to circle him he continued looking for his wife and thought that she might have been diving toward the ocean floor.”

Eventually, he said he “did spot something in the distance and then the shark came back, and he could see something red around the shark’s gills. At that time, he said people on the beach began yelling at him to get out of the water because a shark was feeding in the area,” the report states.

A man on shore corroborated the husband’s account.

“Earlier he’d spotted the couple snorkeling and began looking for them to warn them, ‘when he saw the shark’s large mouth continuing to feed on something in the middle of the red cloud in the water,’” the report states. “He continued yelling for the man to get out of the water but no longer was seeing the woman. This witness called 911 to report the incident.”

Searchers looked until nightfall for the missing woman and resumed the search at daybrook before the search was eventually called off later on 9 December. The shark was believed to be a tiger shark, which can reach 12 feet in length, and warning signs were temporarily put up to warn beachgoers. They have since been taken down, according to local reports.

Noting the tragic nature of the incident, the DLNR release was also scathing of social media speculation following news of the 8 December disappearance, addressing users directly.

“Social media can either be a powerful tool for sharing information or a mouthpiece for tremendously hurtful and inaccurate comments directed toward people who are dealing with a tragedy,” the release states.

“The department has noted this kind of behavior over and over online and is encouraging social media users to resist the urge to make comments before all the facts are known. Family members and friends often see these posts. Imagine if it was someone you knew and loved and how you’d feel?”