Adam Strange, New Zealander Director, Killed In Shark Attack

Adam Strange was attacked and killed in a gruesome shark attack at Muriwai Beach in Auckland, New Zealand on Wednesday.

Strange, 47, had been swimming when the shark began to attack him. “All of a sudden… we saw the shark fin and next minute, boom, attack him, then blood everywhere on the water,” local fisherman Pio Mose told Stuff, a New Zealand news website. After Pio called in the emergency, he saw Strange wave his hand, but then said, “We saw another attack pull him in the water.”

Police attempted to rescue the swimmer, but were unable to stop the sharks in time. "Police and surf life savers went out in two IRBs [inflatable rescue boats] and fired on the shark. It rolled over and disappeared," Inspector Shawn Rutene said in a police statement, according to the BBC.

The shark, or sharks, that attacked Strange are believed to have been great whites. One of the sharks killed by police washed up on shore shortly thereafter and measured roughly 14 feet long. Shark attacks in New Zealand are rare, as are fatal shark attacks across the globe. Sharks attacked humans 80 times last year, of which only 7 resulted in death, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File.

Strange, whose body was recovered after the attack, was a director known for his commercials for Pepsi and Firestone, and won Best Short Film at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009. He is survived by his wife Meg Strange and baby daughter.