{"id":859363,"date":"2026-06-11T07:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859363\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T07:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:24:28","slug":"search-ends-for-girl-swept-into-ocean-off-laguna-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859363\/","title":{"rendered":"Search ends for girl swept into ocean off Laguna Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The search for a girl who was swept into the ocean by a large wave with her family in Orange County was ended Wednesday night after crews had scoured the ocean off Laguna Beach for 24 hours.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday around 7:30 p.m., the Laguna Beach Marine Safety Department responded to a call about swimmers in distress. People nearby sprang into action and were able to rescue the mother and her son, but the boy\u2019s sister remainedmissing, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Overnight and throughout the day Wednesday, Laguna Beach lifeguards and assisting agencies conducted a widespread search for the girl using rescue boats, dive teams, aerial resources and shore-based searchers, the city said in a statement. Operations began in the Treasure Island Beach area where the girl was last seen and progressively expanded based on ocean conditions, currents and waves.<\/p>\n

But as darkness fell on Wednesday, searchers abandoned hope of finding the missing girl. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most heartbreaking incidents I have witnessed during my time serving this community,\u201d said Laguna Beach Mayor Mark Orgill in a statement. \u201cOur hearts go out to the young victim\u2019s family, friends, and all those affected by this tragic loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident occurred while much of the Southern California coastline is experiencing dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n

City leaders commended the bravery of the emergency personnel who performed the search during large surf, powerful currents and limited underwater visibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese men and women put themselves in harm\u2019s way, entering the same dangerous ocean conditions in an attempt to bring this young girl home to her family,\u201d Orgill said. \u201cTheir commitment over the past 24 hours has been nothing short of extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also thanked Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department Harbor Patrol and the United States Coast Guard for contributing personnel and resources during the operation.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Laguna Beach lifeguards will transition back to their regular duties monitoring the safety of people in the ocean and along the shore. <\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Laguna <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> A sheriff\u2019s helicopter searches the shoreline and beach below the Montage Resort, where a girl was swept off the rocks by big waves in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. 2.<\/strong> Laguna Beach lifeguards search the turbulent waters near the Montage Resort, where a girl was swept off the rocks by big waves in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. (Don Leach \/ Daily Pilot) <\/p>\n

According to the National Weather Service, a high surf advisory is in effect in Catalina, the Santa Barbara islands, the Malibu Coast and all Los Angeles County beaches. Hazardous beach conditions exist <\/a>for the San Diego and Orange County coastlines through Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe winter storms that they have in the South Pacific generate elevated swells and especially long-period elevated swells, and those swells make it to coastal Southern California,\u201d said Philip Gonsalves, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego.<\/p>\n

Gonsalves explained that these events occur at least once or twice every summer. He said that the best way people can stay safe is by staying out of the surf zones and off the jetties. People may be curious and want to see the big waves, but they take a big risk in doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only can a wave break over rocks and drag you into the water, but it will also drag you out beyond the surf zone,\u201d Gonsalves said.<\/p>\n

The high surf was drawing crowds to places such as the Wedge in Newport Beach, where waves this week reportedly reached as high as 20 feet, and also was creating a bigger workload for local first responders.<\/p>\n

Newport Beach\u2019s chief lifeguard, Brian O\u2019Rourke, told The Times that, on Tuesday alone, his department made 105 rescues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fully staffed; educating the public on the conditions and preventing things the best we can, and then responding,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said.<\/p>\n

He also said that there hadn\u2019t been any serious injuries at that point, but his advice to the public is to always speak with a lifeguard before going into the water.<\/p>\n

Newport Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Ure told The Times that staffing was increased at all of the lifeguard towers, and that his personnel were properly trained to handle the atmospheric conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have multiple people able to go, and they\u2019ll coordinate with the other patrol units,\u201d Ure said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The search for a girl who was swept into the ocean by a large wave with her family…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":859364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,350589,4471,2451,78989,69354,350586,2961,133418,224,5337,350588,17241,6231,936,1036,3546,350587,31254],"class_list":["post-859363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-catalina","tag-child","tag-city","tag-dangerous-condition","tag-distress","tag-hazardous-condition","tag-la","tag-laguna-beach","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-marine-safety-department","tag-mother","tag-national-weather-service","tag-ocean","tag-orange-county","tag-people","tag-powerful-wave","tag-swimmer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116730284365896565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}