INJURED - 31 May 2006 - Marijuanas, North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii - diver attacked

Ronald Deguilmo, 26, was free diving at the surf spot Marijuanas (near Chun’s Reef ) on the North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii when he was attacked and bitten on the left arm by a shark. The incident took place at about 1.30pm on Wednesday, 31 May 2006.

Deguilmo hit the shark with the butt of his speargun before it released its grip on his arm.

Two friends who were diving with him -- James Santiago, 24, and Tommy Miller, 29 -- came to his rescue after he surfaced shouting: “I got hit! I got bit by a shark!”

Santiago told media: "We started swimming toward him and tried not to panic."

He said Deguilmo’s arm looked “pretty bad. It was pretty bloody. It was deep.”

"He told us that he hit it when the shark was tugging at his arm," Santiago was quoted in the press as saying. "When he hit it, it let him go."

The two friends supported Deguilmo on the way back to shore keeping a lookout in case the shark returned, but they never saw it.

Deguilmo was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital and then transferred to St Francis Medical Center West.

According to his brother, Noel Deguilmo, doctors said he would recover but he might not have all the feeling in his fingers.

The size and type of shark was not established.

Sources: The Honolulu Advertiser