Hawaii search ends for snorkeler missing after shark spotted

Signs warning of a shark sighting are posted at Makaha Beach Park in Waianae, Hawaii, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy) 

HONOLULU -

The search for a Washington state woman whose husband couldn't find her after spotting a shark while they were snorkeling in Hawaii was called off Friday.

The woman's husband and others reported spotting a large shark about 50 yards (45 metres) from shore at at Keawakapu Point in south Maui on Thursday, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The couple had been snorkeling when he saw a shark swim by but could not see his wife. The shark swam by several times before the man returned to shore and reporting his wife missing, the department said.

Rescuers searched from the water and from the sky until nightfall Thursday and resumed the search at daybreak.

After what was believed to be a tiger shark was spotted, officials put up shark warning signs. The signs were removed after a survey of the area didn't show that the 10-to-12-foot-long (three-to-five-metre-long) shark was still in the area.

The department said it doesn't release the names of people involved in shark encounters.