Update: Rescue crews find missing SC swimmer after 2-day search in ocean. He is identified

Rescue crews have recovered the body of a missing swimmer after a two-day search.

The body of the drowning victim was found at Huntington Beach State Park Saturday afternoon, according to a release from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office.

The teen was identified as Tyrese Haynes, 17, of Murrells Inlet, according to Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway. Ridgeway said Haynes was swimming in the ocean when he went missing Friday, July 12, 2024, near Litchfield By the Sea.

Deputies saw what appeared to be a body in the surf, and a Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office drone unit returned to the area and confirmed the sighting, according to the sheriff’s department release.. Deputies on all-terrain vehicles recovered the body.

An investigator from the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division and a victim’s advocate have been mobilized, the release said. Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway responded to Tidelands Health Waccamaw Community Hospital, where the body was taken.

Sheriff’s Office marine and drone units joined with partners Midway Fire Rescue, Murrells Inlet Garden City Fire Rescue, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard in the extensive search.

Rough seas and impending storms hampered the search for the teen, according to the release.

The unified command has been in contact with family members of the missing swimmer and kept them abreast of the efforts, the release said.

According to a Facebook post Friday by the Georgetown County Emergency Management, rescue crews began searching for the swimmer in the area of South Dunes Drive.

Rescue crews received the call about a male teen missing in the surf at 6:10 p.m., according to Brandon Ellis, director of Georgetown County Emergency Management.

The male teenager was described as wearing dark blue shorts, according to Vincent Moreno, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard. Moreno had few details, including the age of the teen.

Austin Bond, a youth pastor at Low Country Community Church, described on Facebook what the scene looked like as rescue crews searched for the young man.

According to officials, two teens went swimming in the ocean in the Litchfield beach/Pawleys Island area. Only one of the teens made it back to shore. Witnesses reported seeing one of the teens go under the water.

Bond wrote that the teens went swimming at Litchfield By the Sea after work. He said many people were standing on the beach and one family was “hugging each other tightly.”