By Steve Robson

PUBLISHED: 07:42 EST, 15 August 2013 | UPDATED: 09:11 EST, 15 August 2013

A German tourist is battling for her life after having her arm bitten off by a shark in an attack near a beach in Hawaii, it has been reported.

The woman in her 20s was snorkelling just 50 yards from Makena beach in South Maui when the shark struck.

She is currently in a critical condition at Maui Medical Centre, having also been bitten on the foot.

'We heard screaming from the water and it was this unbelievable scream like I’ve never heard before,' eyewitness Andree Conley-Kapoi told mauinow.com.

'The only time anybody would scream like that is if they are being attacked by a shark,' she said.

Ms Conley-Kapoi said she called emergency services as she watched one person attempting to drag another to the shore.

Another person used a kayak to row out to the victim and help.

County officials closed the beach have been carrying out searches to try and locate the shark.

The shark attack is the fifth in Maui and the eighth in Hawaii this year.