The state Department of Land and Natural Resources continues to investigate a collision on Saturday between an escort boat’s propellor and the hand of a long-distance swimmer nearing the end of Maui Channel Swim, DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said.

She had no information on the age, gender or hometown of the swimmer or his or her condition.

Race director Ian Emberson declined to provide the Star-Advertiser with any information on Saturday’s accident, but insisted, “I’m not trying to hide anything.”

Ward said the escort boat’s propellor struck the swimmer’s hand around 2:30 p.m. near a spot called Black Rock, which is located near the finish of the Lanai-to-Kaanapali Maui Channel Swim.

The operator of the escort boat had turned off his engine “and we think he may have had some things to do in the cabin of the boat,” Ward said. “The people conducting the race notified him on a loud speaker that he was drifting into a restricted zone. When he started up his engine to get out, his prop hit the hand of one of the swimmers.”

The swimmer was taken to Maui Memorial Hospital.