Shark bites swimmer during Catalina Channel crossing

A long-distance swimmer was bitten by a shark in the early hours of Tuesday while attempting the Catalina Channel crossing, officials said. The man, described by fire department spokespeople as about 54 years old, was roughly 12 miles off Catalina Island around 1:20 to 1:30 a.m. when a shark made contact, according to Los Angeles Fire Department personnel and the crew accompanying the swim.

The swimmer had been making the roughly 20-mile route from Catalina to the mainland, a well-known marathon swim often started at night to avoid afternoon winds and typically accompanied by a support boat. Crew aboard the liveaboard dive boat Bottom Scratcher removed the injured swimmer from the water and met an LAFD vessel midway across the channel. Fire rescuers transported him to shore, and he was taken by ambulance to a hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries, officials said. His wounds were bandaged aboard the boat before the transfer, and LAFD personnel said he was not critically hurt.

Accounts of where the shark bit differ slightly. Shaun Corby, an LAFD fire boat pilot who responded to the call, said the animal appeared to be a juvenile great white about three to four feet long and...