'Hero' teacher saves German tourist who lost arm in Hawaii shark attack

An American teacher has been hailed a hero after rescuing a German tourist who lost her arm in a shark attack while on holiday in Hawaii.

Rick Moore, 57, jumped into the water and swam to her aide after he saw her "floating on her back with no arm" after she was attacked while snorkelling off Palauea Beach in Maui.

The victim was a 20-year-old who had been working as an au pair in Seattle, and was taking a three-week holiday in Hawaii before heading home to Germany in September.

Mr Moore, a PE teacher from California, told Sky News: "As soon as we stand on the beach, we hear this blood-curdling scream.

"We look out and there was blood everywhere in the white water around her.

"About 10ft from her, I saw her floating on her back, with no arm. It was completely severed from her body."

With no thought for his own safety, he swam out and grabbed the woman, putting her other arm around his neck and swimming 100 yards back to the beach.

According to the Daily Mail, Mr Moore added: "It dawned on me - I was in danger now. The shark is around me and she's bleeding. I start praying out loud, "God, God protect us." She said, "I'm dying. I know I'm going to die."'

Mr Moore and a friend, Nicholas Grisaffi, put the woman in a kayak and used it as a stretcher.

A police officer arrived on the scene with a tourniquet and an ambulance rushed her to the Maui Memorial Medical Centre.

One onlooker, Londoner Joshua Craddock, told the Daily Mail that Mr Moore was "heroic". He said: "He was pretty heroic and selfless to dive in the water when by this stage she was surrounded by a pool of blood which we could see form the shore."

It was the seventh shark attack in Hawaii this year, and the fourth on the island of Maui.

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