Two boys from Vallejo were swept out to sea at Ocean Beach (my image above) in San Francisco yesterday. Local meteorologists had called for dangerous surf conditions as the result of the time of year, record high temperatures, and currents. The recommendation on TV was not to wade deeper than knee-deep, because of the possibility of getting swept off one’s feet. SFGate.com says:
The teens, both 17 years old, were presumed drowned after rescue teams from the U.S. Coast Guard and San Francisco Fire Department failed to find them in an extensive search of the Ocean Beach area that included air, land and sea crews for almost five hours, officials said.
The boys, whose names were not released, had run into the surf wearing swim trunks, their arms linked with those of three friends, witnesses said. It was unclear how far they waded into the surf, but Fire Department spokesman Jonathan Baxter said, “Ocean Beach conditions on a good day are generally enough to pull a grown man into the water.”
Three boys, two of them 17-year-olds and one 18-year-old, made it back to shore and were taken to UCSF Hospital in stable condition.
The search for the other two, described by their friends as weak swimmers, was called off at 9 p.m. after investigating agencies told the boys’ families they had probably drowned. No recovery effort will continue Sunday, fire officials said.
Coast Guard officials estimated the boys’ bodies may have been carried up to 15 miles out to sea in the time since they disappeared, Baxter said.
The drownings happened just off the beach near Lincoln Way, south of the Murphy Windmill and across from Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant, said Coast Guard Lt. Marcia Medina.
The Coast Guard employed two 47-foot motorized lifeboats and a helicopter in the search. San Francisco Fire Department air- and water-rescue teams as well as people to search the shoreline. Parks officials searched on land.
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