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Amanpreet Thind, 35, Identified in Big Sur Surf Sweep as Recovery Effort Continues

Hazardous surf keeps recovery teams from the water.

Overview

  • Authorities named the missing man as Spc. Amanpreet Thind, a U.S. Army specialist from New Jersey studying at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey.
  • Three people were swept from the rocks at Soberanes Point on Saturday; two women self-rescued and were taken to a hospital with minor or unknown injuries.
  • A Coast Guard helicopter briefly spotted what appeared to be a body about an hour after the 911 call but lost visual contact in heavy surf, prompting a shift to search-and-recovery.
  • High winds, dangerous seas and nightfall have repeatedly halted operations, limiting divers and grounding some drone flights in the multi-agency effort.
  • The National Weather Service maintained a Beach Hazard Statement warning of 13–18 foot breakers, as officials urged visitors to stay off rocks and away from the water in the same park where a father and his 7-year-old daughter died a week earlier.