Investigators in California say a Calgary man and his seven-year-old daughter have died after they were swept into the Pacific Ocean.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said 39-year-old Yuji Hu was with his wife and two children last Friday when an approximately six-metre-tall wave dragged his daughter into the Pacific Ocean.
When Hu and his wife reached for their daughter, they, too, were swept into the water, the office said.
A beach visitor and an off-duty California park officer then pulled Hu out of the ocean and tried to resuscitate him while his wife made it back to the beach on her own.
A statement from the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook said a diver located the girl’s body on Sunday. The child was initially reported to be five, but family later clarified she was seven.
“The family has expressed their gratitude to all agencies, personnel and community members involved in the search and recovery efforts. They continue to request privacy and do not wish to make further statements at this time,” the statement said.
The sheriff’s office said the couple’s two-year-old child was unharmed and the adult woman was treated for mild hypothermia.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said it waited before announcing the girl’s body had been found until her family was notified. A diver located her body roughly 100 metres from shore and just under a kilometre north of her last known location.
A large-scale search effort that saw a command post set up from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, with members of the U.S. Coast Guard, California’s fire service, divers and a helicopter searching for the girl, has since been suspended.
According to a California government website, Garrapata State Beach is a state park with two beach fronts and a 15-metre-tall cliff that oversees the Monterey coast.
