Cerritos woman recovers from shark attack in Maui

A Cerritos woman was recovering Thursday after she was attacked by a shark in Maui.

Evvone Cashman, 56, was bitten Wednesday by a large shark off Ulua Beach in Wailea, which is on the south shore of the island, according to Hawaii media reports.

Cashman said she was taking a morning swim in about 10 feet of choppy, murky water when the shark attacked her.

“I must have had my hands up in front of my face. I think my head was above water, if I remember correctly. I don’t know because it happened so fast. I didn’t see him coming. I didn’t see him leave. He just came and hit me hard and bit me hard and I just took off to the shore as fast as I could,” Cashman told KHON-TV Channel 2.

“He only bit once, and he let go right away,” she told reporters.

She swam to shore, where bystanders used towels to stem the flow of blood, according to what Cashman told Hawaii reporters.

She received a 15-inch wound from the middle of her spine to her neck. She was also injured in her chin and both hands. She underwent surgery and said afterward that a doctor said the shark was huge.

“He thinks according to the bites and where they are and what they look like, it was probably about a 25-foot shark. That was his guess,” Cashman said.

Officials closed the beach where she was attacked. It was reopened Thursday afternoon.

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robert.lopez@latimes.com