Two Fil-Am teens swept out to sea in San Francisco, presumed dead

Grisham Duran                        Wayne Ausa   FACEBOOK

SAN FRANCISCO — Two Filipino teenagers were swept out to sea at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach Saturday, April 16 and are presumed dead as searchers failed to find them.

A wave pulled Wayne Ausa, 17, and Grisham Duran, 18, from Vallejo, California, out to sea as they waded into the ocean with three of their friends on Saturday afternoon.

The five teens had walked into the surf arms locked on a sunny day of record high temperatures in the San Francisco Bay Area. A wave knocked them down, forcing the boys apart and dragging out Ausa and Duran.

The fire department said the rip currents off Ocean Beach could be very strong even in shallow water. Firemen said the two boys might have been swept as far as 15 miles from shore.

The water off the beach is also very cold and long exposure to it could lead to fatal hypothermia. The other three teens who managed to swim to shore were taken to a hospital to be checked.

Firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard boats and a helicopter searched the waters off Ocean Beach but called off the search that night, saying it could take weeks before their bodies drift back to shore.