3 minute read
The women's World Surf League season-opening Maui Pro is set to be completed at another location after a fatal shark attack halted action at Honolua Bay.
The World Surf League is hopeful of completing the Maui Pro at an alternate location after action was paused following a fatal shark attack at Honolua Bay.
A recreational surfer was attacked just hours before the world's best women's surfers were due to continue in the season opener in Hawaii, where Australians Tyler Wright and Sally Fitzgibbons were due to meet in a semi-final.
A 56-year-old man was taken to hospital in a critical condition on Wednesday (AEDT), the WSL confirming his death on Thursday.
It was the second attack in the area in the past fortnight and the fifth fatal attack in Maui in the past 20 years, while WSL events in Jeffrey's Bay (2015) and Margaret River (2018) were both cancelled because of shark attacks.
The men's Pipe Masters began on the same day as the man's death on Hawaii's North Shore and looms as an option for the remaining women's heats.
A WSL statement paid respects to the victim's family and friends the Maui surfing community on Thursday, having earlier declared "we are working on options to complete the Maui Pro at an alternate location in Hawaii ... we will update everyone soon - stay tuned".