One of the 2 Shark Attacks Reported on Same Day in Hawaii Was Eel Bite, Officials Say
The injuries were found to be "consistent with an eel bite."
— -- One of the two incidents reported Saturday in Hawaii as shark attacks has now been determined to be "consistent with an eel bite," not a shark, officials said today.
Just before 7 p.m., EMS received a report of an injured surfer in Waikiki, the Honolulu Emergency Services Department said. The man said he was surfing when he fell off a wave and felt pain to his foot. He was hospitalized in serious condition, said Honolulu Emergency Services.
Honolulu Emergency Services at first said, "We don't have word on the type of shark involved in this incident."
Honolulu Emergency Services said in an updated statement today: "On further investigation, the injuries sustained by the patient in Waikiki are consistent with an eel bite."
The other attack report Saturday was around 11:40 p.m. in Lanikai, when a 44-year-old man was swimming back to shore from the Mokulua Islands.
He suffered critical injuries to both feet, according to Honolulu Emergency Services, and was hospitalized in critical condition.
"According to witnesses, the shark was a 10-foot tiger shark," said Honolulu Emergency Services.
The shark and eel attacks occurred the same day Colin Cook, 25, spoke about the shark that attacked him last Friday, resulting in the loss of his left leg.
"It was like a full truck, it had some serious power," he said at a news conference.
Cook said he fought back, refusing to lose his life.
"He kind of dragged me underwater," he said. "I kind of had to push him off with this hand ... and kind of punched him with my other."
The surfer recalled his will to survive, swimming to a nearby paddle-board, with the 13-foot tiger shark still viciously tearing into him, he said.
"It was a persistent shark, so it kept kind of coming around and coming after us," he said.
Cook made it to shore with the help of Good Samaritans. Other bystanders on the beach used a surfboard leash as a tourniquet that likely saved his life.
"He borrowed the ambulance driver's phone, he's calling me, 'Dad don't worry ... I'm all right,'" Cook's father Glenn said.