By Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – Professional surfer, lifeguard and actor Tamayo Perry, 49, was killed by shark while surfing near the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu on Sunday, officials said.
Tamayo was well-known as a big-wave surfer and a lifeguard in Oahu, home to some of the world’s greatest surfing spots such as the Banzai Pipeline and Waimea Bay.
He achieved wider fame appearing in the surfing film “Blue Crush” in 2002, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in 2011 and the television series “Hawaii Five-0” in 2011.
Emergency services were called to assist a shark bite victim, and Ocean Safety Services retrieved Perry from the sea by jet ski, Shayne Enright, spokesperson for the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, told reporters on Sunday.
Emergency medical services personnel pronounced him dead on the shore, Enright said.
“We can confirm that it was one of our own … North Shore lifeguard Tamayo Perry,” emergency services Acting Chief Kurt Lager said. “Tamayo’s personality was infectious. And as much as people loved him, he loved everyone else more.”
Officials offered no further details of the shark encounter.
“Tamayo Perry … man, this one is hard to believe,” Kelly Slater, the 11-time World Surf League champion and occasionally Perry’s competitive rival, said on Instagram.
“RIP brother. Thank you for your service as a lifeguard on the North Shore, holding it down at Pipeline for decades … You truly lived the life you loved.”
Shark encounters are rare and fatalities even rarer still. There have been 42 unprovoked shark encounters in Oahu since 1828, second most among the Hawaiian islands behind Maui with 75, according to the International Shark Attack File database.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Michael Perry)
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