Search continues for missing swimmer off Rancho Palos Verdes coast

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Friends and family of Joseph Sanchez, of Long Beach, react to the discovery of a body along the shore in Rancho Palos Verdes on Sunday morning. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Rescue personnel load a body onto a Los Angeles County lifeguard boat after it was discovered Sunday morning. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

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Divers continue searching for a young man who may have drowned in Abalone Cove on Wednesday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Family members grieve while watching recovery efforts from a hill lookout above Abalone Cove. Divers continue searching for a young man who may have drowned there Wednesday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Family members console one another as the search resumed Thursday morning for a young man who may have drowned in Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Family members are escorted out of the area where a search was on Thursday morning for a young man who may have drowned in Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A search resumed Thursday for a young man who may have drowned in heavy surf near Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A search resumed Thursday for a young man who may have drowned in heavy surf near Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A search resumed Thursday for a young man who may have drowned in heavy surf near Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A search resumed Thursday for a young man who may have drowned in heavy surf near Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

By Los Angeles Times staff

July 10, 2014 6:46 AM PT

The search continued Thursday for an 18-year-old swimmer who disappeared a day earlier under heavy surf near Abalone Cove Shoreline Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Identified by high school friends as Joseph Sanchez, the teen reportedly had been cliff-jumping off Inspiration Point — something they did regularly. But high surf knocked him into the rocks and swept him into a cave, fellow cliff jumper Toogee Zepeda told KTLA-TV.

Zepeda jumped in to help Sanchez — described as a poor swimmer — but the surf proved to be too much.

“Every time we had air, another wave kept piling on top of us,” he told reporters at the scene.

That’s when Zepeda decided to go back for help.

“I told him, ‘Hold on to this rock. Whatever you do, don’t let go of this rock,’” he recalled telling Sanchez as he swam away.

The U.S. Coast Guard, lifeguards and divers started looking for Sanchez at 2:55 p.m. after witness reports of a body that was submerged in the ocean.

“It doesn’t look good,” Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Keith Mora told The Times.

The rescue call was one of many fire officials have fielded since the weekend, mostly due to strong rip currents, especially along the south side of Rancho Palos Verdes.

Fire officials have responded to at least 49 ocean rescues since the weekend, he said.

He urged swimmers not to “underestimate the power of the rip tides.”

Swimmers, he said, should stay close to lifeguard towers, and swim with a partner.