A US-based Gambian man is being mourned by friends and family after an apparent shark attack in California last Sunday.  

Felix Louis Syl N’jai, an avid kiteboarder, was reported missing in a possible shark attack off Point Reyes National Seashore in California. 

N’jai, 52, hasn’t been seen since friends saw him pulled underwater at Wildcat Beach on Sunday morning in a possible shark attack, prompting a multi-day search in water and on land.

“It’s heartbreaking on so many different levels. He was full of life.  He was the type of friend who was always there to support you. He was Mr. Positive — I’ve known him for like 42 years, and I’ve never known him to say a bad thing about anybody,” Awa Dabo, a lifelong friend who grew up with N’jai in Gambia and now lives in the U.S told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Dabo said N’jai was known to friends and family in Gambia as “Syl,” but she often called him “Noise,” “because he was so loud and nonstop,” she said, laughing.

“You don’t really know how special someone is until something like this happens, but with Syl I always knew he was special,” said Dabo, who lives in New York. 

She visited N’jai in the San Francisco area a few years ago, where she said he worked in the tech industry and was a competitive kiteboarder

N’jai moved to the U.S. to attend Pennsylvania State University, and soon after graduating, he moved to Northern California, Dabo said.