Crew Experiences 'Horrific' Encounter With Sharks While Shooting Netflix Docuseries

A Netflix film crew landed itself in choppy waters while collecting footage for the streamer's Our Planet II docuseries.

Series Producer Huw Cordey told Forbes the crew was attacked by sharks that “leapt at the boat and bit huge holes."

While the first day of the shoot was planned to conduct “an underwater shoot with the tiger sharks,” the crew's schedule was nixed after coming into contact with the aquatic predators.

“The first day the tiger sharks were around, the crew got into these inflatable boats and two sharks attacked them. It was like something out of Jaws,” Cordey said. “Suffice to say, they didn’t get any underwater shots."

In an interview with Radio Times, Our Planet II director Toby Nowlan shed more light on the crew's encounter with the sharks.

“This ‘v’ of water came streaming towards us, and this tiger shark leapt at the boat and bit huge holes in it. The whole boat exploded,” Nowlan shared. “We were trying to get it away, and it wasn’t having any of it. It was horrific. That was the second shark that day to attack us.”

Referring to the sharks’ behaviour as “extremely unusual,” Nowlan concluded: “They were incredibly hungry, so there might not have been enough natural food, and they were just trying anything they came across in the water.”

Narrated by biologist David Attenborough, Our Planet Ii is streaming now on Netflix.