VIDEO UPDATE: Search suspended for missing swimmer

UPDATE from WBTW:

GARDEN CITY – Horry County Police say search and rescue units from communities along the Grand Strand suspended the search Thursday night for a swimmer reported missing off the Garden City coast around 12:30 p.m.

Searchers including volunteers formed a human chain and were working their way through the surf along Garden City Beach.

Witnesses tell News 13 the scene was chaotic and disturbing.

“There were all kinds of boats and helicopters that started coming and the family came running down here,“ said Nick Vukovich who was visiting with family from Pittsburg.

“There were several of us being dragged out there just waist deep,“ said search volunteer Jason Reeder, “you’re just worn out from going down, your ears are popping you can’t hear anything except your own heart beat, it’s all you hear underneath the water.“

Searchers also used jet skis to search the area.

The swimmer is described as a 13-year-old male visiting with his family from Maryland said Horry County Police Sergeant, Robert Kegler.

“There was a group of kids out there swimming just enjoying themselves and some passer by looked at them and thought they may have been in some type of trouble and alerted a life guard and when the kids came out there were seven children accounted for,“ explained Kegler.

The swimmer was last seen at 12:40 p.m. Thursday Kegler said.

Murrells Inlet/Garden City Fire Department Assistant Chief Danny Lussier said his department had boats in the water along with the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office and, at one point, a medical air ambulance.

Those are in addition to Horry County Police Department, Horry County Fire/Rescue, Surfside Beach, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and a boat and helicopter from the US Coast Guard – the boat from Georgetown and the helicopter from Charleston.

The Coast Guard got the call about 1:45 p.m., US Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Bobby Nash said.

The search comes after two girls were pulled from the water Wednesday further north on the coast.

Myrtle Beach Police officials said rescuers were able to pull the children from the surf.

One was treated and released while the younger of the two was flown to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The search for the missing boy will resume Friday morning. Kegler said.

The rough surf and rip currents are a result of the persistent southeast wind and the new-moon high tide, WBTW News13 Chief Meteorologist Frank Johnson said.

The conditions are expected to improve over the next couple of days, he said.

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From the Associated Press:

Authorities are searching for a 13-year-old boy they say went missing while swimming off the South Carolina coast.
   
Multiple media outlets reported Thursday that the Coast Guard was searching the area between Garden City and Surfside Beach.
   
Authorities say the teen disappeared into the ocean around 12:30 p.m. while swimming with a group. Someone passing by noticed some of the teens were struggling and alerted a lifeguard, who brought seven of the eight kids to shore.
   
Officials from the Department of Natural Resources and several local agencies were also assisting in the search, using boats, jet skis and helicopters to look for the boy.