Bad Weather Stalls Beach Search

Search efforts for two teenagers missing for several days in the waters off Huntington Beach were hampered by heavy winds and rain Saturday.

Nelson Nguyen, 17, of Corona had been swimming with a couple of friends Wednesday afternoon when a strong rip current pulled him out into the ocean. A day later, 19-year-old Brandon Paul Bandas of Toluca Lake fell off the pier while leaning over the railing.

A helicopter crew spent several hours Saturday morning flying over the ocean but was grounded by the rain later in the day, said marine safety officer Steve Reuter.

Two Jeeps continued to patrol the shore, and a lifeguard monitored the waves from the tower with a telescope. “I’ve given up hope that someone’s out there treading water. It’ll be a body recovery when it does happen. I hope it happens soon, for the families’ sake,” Reuter said.

With wind gusts up to 42 mph and intermittent rain, the beach was starkly empty Saturday afternoon. Despite the driving rain, Nguyen’s family and friends spent the day at the shore’s edge, maintaining the vigil they have kept since his disappearance.

“They’ve been out there all day,” Reuter said. “It’s sad to see that closure is not there for the family and friends.”

Riptides have been stronger than usual in recent months due to storm conditions. Earlier this year, a 27-year-old Utah student drowned when he was dragged underwater at Calafia Beach County Park in San Clemente.

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Lifeguards were on duty when Nguyen and his two friends who were bodyboarding hit trouble Wednesday. Twenty lifeguards jumped in and rescued his friends, but Nguyen vanished.

However, on Thursday night, the lifeguards were not on duty when Bandas, whose friends told lifeguards he had been drinking, fell over the railing fully clothed about 10 p.m.

“That was especially unfortunate because if it had happened a couple days later, we would have had lifeguards stationed till midnight,” Reuter said.

Before this past week, there had been five drownings in Huntington Beach over the last 18 years, he said, the most recent of which was in 1990.

Water safety is mainly about common sense, Reuter said, such as swimming near the tower, checking with lifeguards on water conditions and avoiding alcohol or drugs, “but people forget in the spring. They’ve been away from the beach all winter long. Summer’s right around the corner, and people forget all the lessons they learned before.”