UPDATE: Man Goes Missing While Swimming at Rockaway Beach

BAY AREA, CA -- U.S. Coast Guard crews and other authorities are continuing to search for a man, now identified as 28-year-old Merced County resident Tyler Collins, who went missing after going swimming early Tuesday morning with friends at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica.

Officers responded at about 4:20 a.m. to a report of a missing swimmer among a group of friends who were staying at a nearby hotel. The group had been at the beach when two decided to go into the water, police said.

The two were about 50 feet from shore when Collins went missing. The friends searched the beach and surrounding area but didn't find him, then called the police. Collins had been last seen about 45 minutes before the friends called police.

Police, firefighters and Coast Guard crews have been searching Tuesday morning for Collins, described as a white male in his 20s, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, 160 pounds with brown hair. He was last seen wearing black boxer shorts, according to police.

The Coast Guard sent a lifeboat and aircraft to the area, but they had not found him as of 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Coast Guard search was later called off, but Collins' friends and family have continued to search on their own.

UPDATE at 1:10 pm 3/29/19:

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for the search for Tyler. The page is at: https://www.gofundme.com/help-find-tyler

Disclosure: GoFundMe is a Patch partner.

Bay City News contributed to this report.