Man, 39, Dies After 'Shark Encounter' While Surfing in Hawaii: 'Living Nightmare,' Says Family
Jason Carter was surfing off Maui's north shore when the incident occurred on Saturday morning
Jay Carter/Facebook
Jason "Jay" CarterA surfer died after a "shark encounter" on the north shore of Hawaii over the weekend, authorities said.
Jason “Jay” Carter, 39, of Haiku, was surfing in Paia Bay when the incident occurred on Saturday morning, according to the county of Maui.
Shortly before 11:30 a.m. local time, Maui Fire and ocean safety officers transported Carter via jet ski to the shore where life-saving measures were performed by a first responder, county officials said.
Carter was then transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center where he later died from his injuries, officials said.
Nearby Baldwin Beach Park and Lower Paia Park were later closed due to the incident, the county posted on social media.
Witnesses described the condition of the water that day as "murky" as they recalled the terrifying moment when the man encountered the shark.
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“The shark just came up next to him and there’s maybe one guy in between us and the shark just started biting him and pull [sic] him down and then I just was paddling in trying to call 911," Ikaia Kapisi told Hawaii News Now.
Another eyewitness told NBC News that the shark was as big as a pickup truck.
"The dorsal fin was almost as big as his [Carter's] body, the height of it was almost as high as his head sitting on the board," the witness told the outlet.
Related: Teenage Boy Killed in Shark Attack in South Australia: 'It's a Tragic, Tragic Incident'
Family members and friends are now left to mourn Carter’s death.
"It is a living nightmare," cousin Gillian Carter told Good Morning America. “Whether you had a lifetime with him or five minutes, you felt like a changed person because of his beautiful spirit."
The incident was the eighth shark attack of 2023 in Hawaii, and the first fatal one, according to the Department of Land and Natural Resources shark incident database.
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