Man injured in shark attack at Hawaii beach

A man was injured in a shark attack at a Hawaii beach on Tuesday -- the second such attack reported in the state in the past week, officials said.

A 68-year-old man from Waikoloa was swimming about 400 yards offshore around 8 a.m. when the shark bit him on the lower left torso, the Hawaii Police Department said.

The swimmer used a diving knife to try to fend off the shark before the fish released him, police said. The encounter was with a reported 12-foot tiger shark, the Department of Land and Natural Resources said.

The man was taken to a local hospital following the attack. He is in stable condition and will be transported to Oahu for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

"Additional warning signs have been put up at various resort properties in the area, as well as by ocean sports operators," the Department of Land and Natural Resources said in a statement.

This is the second shark attack in the past week in the state. On Thursday, a 60-year-old woman from Washington state disappeared after witnesses, including her husband, reported she was attacked by a shark in Maui, officials said.

The woman was never found after a search of the area around Keawakapu Point in South Maui.

Shark attacks are rare. There were 73 unprovoked incidents recorded around the world last year, according to yearly research conducted by the Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File. Six of them occurred in Hawaii.