The search is on for a 54-year-old man after a powerful wave swept him out to sea near Half Moon Bay, while a 5-year-old girl was rescued and rushed to safety in a harrowing incident off the Northern California coast.
Authorities were alerted to the emergency situation after the pair were overcome by the surging waters at Martins Beach, with the young girl luckily being retrieved by quick-acting San Mateo County Fire personnel, yet the man's whereabouts remain unknown as Coast Guard teams comb the chilling Pacific, the surf roiling with 2-to-4-foot waves amidst moderately calm winds, according to a release from the U.S. Coast Guard. The teams consisting of an aircrew in an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and a boat crew aboard a brawny 47-foot motor lifeboat plunged into the search effort subsequent to a distress call that struck the Coast Guard Sector San Francisco command center at precisely 1:20 p.m., the rescue units swinging into the frenzied dance of search and rescue, the helicopter slicing through the grim coastal skies by 3:10 p.m., and the sturdy boat arriving at the scene an hour prior.
Amid efforts to locate the missing man, the Coast Guard Cutter Hawksbill, an 87-foot patrol boat hailing from Monterey’s shores, is also en route to bolster the ongoing search with its expected arrival cutting through night’s shroud around 11:45 p.m., as the girl, whose condition is currently wrapped in uncertainty, receives care at a nearby hospital, grappling with the trauma that the capricious ocean wrought in moments, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Northern California on X.
Coast Guard crews searching for 54-year-old male near Half Moon Bay. 5-year-old girl in hospital after being rescued by San Mateo County Fire personnel. pic.twitter.com/VJ05JjFA4p
— USCGNorCal (@USCGNorCal) November 26, 2023
