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A 25-year-old standup paddler was critically injured today after he was bitten by a shark off the Kona Coast near Hualalai, Hawaii island firefighters said.
The man was standup paddling about 100 to 150 yards offshore from Kukio Beach when he was injured at about 9:30 a.m., firefighters said.
It was unclear how the man made it back to shore, but he was being treated by people on the beach who had applied multiple tourniquets to his right arm and leg before firefighters arrived.
The man said he was bitten by a shark, firefighters said. Details of the shark were not immediately available.
Firefighters took the man by helicopter to North Hawaii Community Hospital in critical condition.
The county’s Civil Defense agency said public access to the beach will be closed today.
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