Imperial Beach and California State Park lifeguards from Coronado assisted Mexican officials in a search for two teens who went missing in waters near the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, according to IB lifeguard Captain Robert Stabenow.
Imperial Beach lifeguards were contacted around 4:50 p.m. and asked to provide assistance to Mexican authorities in Tijuana. International assistance was provided with permission from the U.S. Coast Guard and makeshift command centers were established on both sides of the border for the rescue effort that lasted about two hours.
"Sometimes they float on over to our side of the border. With the swell and the currents, the ones that we had yesterday were definitely strong enough that the current could have brought them north to the United States," Stabenow said.
A search by Mexican lifeguards and Navy continued Tuesday morning at Playas de Tijuana for the 13- and 16-year-olds, according to UniradioInforma.com. Imperial Beach lifeguards did not take part in Tuesday rescue efforts.
Unfortunately, after people go missing in the afternoon and spend a night in the surf, a search mission often turns into a mission to recover bodies, he said. IB lifeguards patrolled the coast Tuesday morning in search of the bodies of the teens which may have been carried north by currents, Stabenow said.
"We don't want them to come onshore and someone else to have to discover it. And yeah, it's tragic," he said.
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