Oxnard Teen Drowns at Silver Strand Beach
A 15-year-old Port Hueneme High School student drowned Sunday afternoon while swimming at Silver Strand Beach, authorities said.
Ismael Francisco Centeno of Oxnard had been wading in chest-high water about 3 p.m. when the undercurrent apparently pulled him out to sea, authorities said. The boy’s family told authorities he did not know how to swim.
Mitch Breese, a senior deputy with the Ventura County medical examiner’s office, said the victim had been at the beach with his brother, Mario, 24, and a nephew, 5, when he decided to go swimming.
“[His brother] turned around and looked and he was gone. Two surfers found him about 250 yards out,” Breese said.
The teen was airlifted to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where he was pronounced dead about 3:35 p.m., Breese said.
Ismael and his parents moved to Oxnard six months ago from Nicaragua, authorities said.
An autopsy is scheduled today.
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