The U.S. Coast Guard suspended their search Monday for a missing swimmer in Atlantic City.
As of early Monday evening the search was on standby as crews waited for New Jersey State Police drivers to go into the water to try and recover 10-year-old Khitan Devine's body. The water was too choppy around the rock jetty at the MLK Boulevard beach for divers to enter the surf, authorities said.
All day, Devine's family kept vigil hoping for closure but they left the beach Monday night without any sign of the boy.
The incident happened around 7 p.m. Sunday. There are no lifeguards on-duty at the beach after 6 p.m.
Witnesses told NBC10 Sunday night that the 10-year-old boy, who is from North Carolina but was visiting Philadelphia for the summer, and his two sisters were swimming near the jetty when they became overwhelmed by strong currents.
"It was a current that pulled them under," said Devine's stepmother Rosemary Brown.
While the two girls were rescued, witnesses say the boy went missing.
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Everett Myrick, who tells NBC10 he can't swim, saw the boy go under water.
"The little kid started screaming 'help,'" said Everett. "My brother and some other little girls went to go help the little kids. There were three of them, two little girls and a little boy. The little boy went under water and we haven't seen him since then."
Police say Devine was wearing orange shorts when he went missing. Witnesses say the boy's parents were there at the time and ran into the water to find him but were unable to get him out.
An Atlantic City Police Officer notified the Coast Guard around 7:10 p.m. Off-duty lifeguards with the Atlantic City beach patrol used a jet ski and surfboards to search for the child but could not find him.
Rescue crews aboard two 25-foot response boats, a Coast Guard helicopter and Atlantic City Police officers searched for the boy for about two hours Sunday night before it got dark.
On Monday morning crews from the Coast Guard, state police, beach patrol and fire department rejoined the search. The Coast Guard was using sonar to try to locate the boy but as of early afternoon they had found nothing.
By late morning, firefighters told NBC10 the search for Devine was being considered a recovery effort. Later during the day the Coast Guard announced they had suspended their search for the boy after searching the area from Atlantic City to Longport, totaling 85 square miles.
“The decision to suspend a search is very difficult, but after an exhaustive search by crews last night and all day today, the Coast Guard suspended our search for the missing boy. I cannot imagine the sadness felt by the child’s family, and my deepest sympathy goes out to them,” said Capt. Kathy Moore, the commander of Coast Guard Sector Delaware Bay in Philadelphia.
Lifeguards hope this case will serve as a reminder of swimming only in monitored waters this summer.
"If the lifeguards were there this would not have happened," said A.C. Beach Patrol Chief Rod Aluise. "We can't say it enough, that you should not go anywhere in the ocean if you don't see a lifeguard. That's the most important safety step that you can take to protect you and your family."
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