Shark attacks 65-year-old tourist paddle boarding in Hawaii in third attack there this year

14 Astonishing Facts about Sharks

A 65-year-old California woman is in stable condition after she was attacked by a shark Tuesday morning while paddle boarding off the island of Hawaii, according to news reports.

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The attack happened in South Kohala as the woman from Glendale paddled several hundred yards offshore in Anaehoomalu Bay, CNN reported.

She made it to shore after she was bitten on her right upper thigh and airlifted to North Hawaii Community Hospital.

A spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources told CNN the woman was bitten by a 5-foot blacktip reef shark, which left a wound about 12 inches in diameter.

Spokesman Dan Denison said the attack was highly unusual and there’s “no record of this shark species biting anyone in Hawaii.”

A photo of a reef shark. A tourist in Hawaii was bitten by a reef shark Tuesday morning while kayaking  off the island of Hawaii.

Credit: Pixabay

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Credit: Pixabay

This was the third shark attack in Hawaii so far this year.

No one has died in a shark attack in Hawaii since 2015.