Shark Attacks Man Off Maui

A man was bitten by a shark while swimming off Maui, and lost part of his left hand, officials said.

Jonathan Genant, 29, was alone when a shark attacked Wednesday hundreds of yards off Keawakapu Beach. He was admitted to a hospital in stable condition.

Hospital spokeswoman Carol Clark said Genant, of San Diego, lost his pinky and part of his ring finger.

The shark was so big, Genant thought it was a great white, reports Keahi Tucker of CBS Honolulu affiliate KGMB.

"His jaws were just humongous," Genant

told

Tucker from his hospital bed on Maui.

Genant said he put out his hands to push the shark away, when it chomped down.

"It was a really quick, powerful motion," he told Tucker. "I heard the bones snap. From that point, I just — I knew I was in trouble."

Losing blood, Genant started kicking to shore on his back, in terror, waiting for the shark to attack again, Tucker said.

"I yelled a couple of times to the people on the beach. You know, yelled out, 'Help, help!' And I didn't know if they could hear me," Genant said.

People on the beach not only heard his screams, Tucker says, construction worker Alex Stiller swam out to help.

He told Tucker that Genant "was holding his hand up … and it was just pouring blood."

As Genant was being rushed to the hospital, fire crews put up a helicopter and spotted a 12-foot tiger shark, Tucker says. Lifeguards on jet skis chased the animal into deeper water. Shark warnings quickly went up at beaches all over Maui's south shore.

"With the size of this guy, I felt quite fortunate that I could get away as I did," Genant told Tucker.

It was the first shark attack in Hawaii resulting in injury since October 2004 when a man was bitten while spear fishing off Molokai.