Search For Missing Swimmer Underway Off Pinellas Beach: Fire Chief

INDIAN SHORES, FL — First responders are looking for a missing swimmer Wednesday off Indian Shores, the Pinellas Suncoast Fire & Rescue wrote in a Facebook post.

What started as a search and rescue earlier Wednesday morning is now a recovery mission, the agency said.

A group that had been swimming in the Gulf of Mexico reported one member missing when they returned to shore around 9 a.m.

The missing swimmer is a 15-year-old boy who was possibly caught in a rip current, IONTB reported.

The waters were rough when the group was swimming, PSFR Chief Jeffrey Davidson told WFLA.

“Some people thought they had a visual of the missing person, but the seas were so rough and there’s so many buoys out there, it’s hard to distinguish if it was an actual person,” he said. “They were a couple hundred yards off the coast.”

The U.S. Coast Guard, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue and Madeira Beach Fire Department are assisting in the efforts.