A man was killed in a rare shark attack Wednesday afternoon in the south of Stuart Beach, in Florida authorities said.

Stephen Schafer, 38 was kite boarding about 4:15 p.m. when several sharks attacked him, Bureau Chief Doug Killane of Martin County Fire-Rescue and Martin County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rhonda Irons said, the Palm Beach Post reported.

A lifeguard, Daniel Lund spotted Schafer floating about a quarter mile offshore and paddled on to him on his rescue board. Lund saw blood on the water while many sharks were still circling him. Schafer was screaming that he had been bitten by a shark.

Lund pulled the man out of the water and rescue workers administered CPR but the man died at Martin Memorial Hospital, the Post reports.

I've never heard of multiple sharks in this area surrounding someone and fatally wounding him, Teague Taylor, 36 a friend of Schafer since childhood told TCPalm.com. He was the nicest person ever.

Beaches remained opened Thursday around the area 100 miles north of Miami, but more than a hundred sharks were spotted off Palm Beach today due to migration, WPTV reported. TCPalm.com published impressive aerial images of the sharks.

The shark attack was rare because Martin County had never had a fatal shark attack before, according to the International Shark Attack File compiled at the University of Florida's Florida Museum of Natural History, the Post noted.

Florida