Overview
- Officials say a 15- to 20-foot wave at Garrapata State Beach swept a 7-year-old into the ocean, prompting her father, 39-year-old Yuji Hu of Calgary, to enter the water to reach her.
- Both were pulled farther out to sea as the child’s mother was briefly swept in before reaching shore, and their 2-year-old child at the scene was uninjured.
- An off-duty California State Parks officer and a beachgoer brought Hu back to shore and performed CPR, and he was later pronounced dead at a hospital while the mother was treated for mild hypothermia and released.
- A multi-agency operation involving the U.S. Coast Guard, California State Parks, Cal Fire, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, search-and-rescue teams, divers, and a CHP helicopter searched by air, sea, and land.
- A volunteer diver located the girl’s body on Nov. 16 about 100 yards offshore and roughly a half-mile north of her last known location, and the family later clarified she was 7 years old and requested privacy.