(Tribune News Service) — Crews continue to search for a U.S. Marine from Massachusetts who was swept away in a rip current while vacationing with his family in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Samuel Wanjiru, 26, went missing on Wednesday afternoon after going into the water in the beach area of La Pared in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, the Coast Guard said. Wanjiru “came into distress after going into the water,” the Coast Guard said.
A 911 call reporting Wanjiru’s emergency came in to the Coast Guard on Wednesday afternoon, and Coast Guard watchstanders launched a helicopter to search for the Massachusetts man.
Search efforts for the missing Massachusetts man were ongoing as of Thursday, amidst the Coast Guard’s cautions to beachgoers and boaters of high surf and life-threatening rip currents in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands into the weekend.
The search efforts will include an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft and MH-60T Jayhawk helicopters, the Coast Guard said. Several emergency management offices in the area, along with the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Bureau and Puerto Rico Police, were also involved in the search on Thursday.
Another man had been pulled dead from the water just hours before Wanjiru went in, the Coast Guard said, at a different beach called Montones Beach in Isabela, Puerto Rico. Coast Guard officials were alerted and tried to save the man, but he died after his rescue.
“This month has been deadly when it comes to beach drownings in the area of Puerto Rico,” said Capt. Jose E. Díaz, Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan.
Díaz urged the public to listen to the National Weather Service’s warnings, which include advisories through the weekend including high-surf, small-craft and life-threatening rip currents for eastern, northern and western beaches in Puerto Rico and across the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“There are several hundred miles of open ocean beaches, which are extremely dangerous in the present conditions, and most do not have lifeguards. People need to realize that the situation is serious enough to limit our ability to respond to search and rescue cases with surface vessels without further endangering our crews and assets,” Díaz said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who have lost their loved ones to the sea, we hope they find strength during this most difficult time,” he said.
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A Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew searches for nine people missing in the water near Lake Worth Beach, Fla., Dec. 20, 2022. Crews continue to search for a U.S. Marine from Massachusetts who was swept away Wednesday, March 27, 2024, in a rip current while vacationing with his family in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Coast Guard said. (Brodie MacDonald/U.S. Coast Guard)
