Body found off Newport Beach days after swimmer went missing

Authorities in Newport Beach recovered the body of an unidentified man offshore Tuesday who they suspect died while swimming.

It’s unclear whether the body is that of a missing 18-year-old man who was last seen near the Newport Pier on July 1.

Until Orange County Sheriff’s Department investigators confirm it, “we just do not know yet,” said Newport Beach lifeguard Battalion Chief Brian O’Rourke.

The person was an adult male wearing swimming clothes, according to Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Carrie Braun.

Authorities believe the man had been in the water before he died, Braun said. There were no signs of trauma or external injuries, she added.

“The condition suggested that [the body] had been in the water for a significant amount of time,” Braun said.

An autopsy is expected within the next few days, she said.

Lifeguards received a report at 8:43 a.m. of a body in the ocean off 28th Street, according to O’Rourke. A Sheriff’s Department helicopter crew located the body about 300 feet offshore between 24th and 28th streets, he said.

Two sheriff’s Harbor Patrol vessels, with assistance from Newport lifeguards, recovered the body, O’Rourke said.