VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Virginia Beach Fire Department says a body has been recovered from the water along the Oceanfront, days after two men went missing while swimming in the ocean.
The body was seen floating near 14th Street around 7:30 p.m. Monday. Four firefighters were able to bring it on shore about a half hour later, and the body was turned over to the Virginia Beach Police Department for further processing and identification.
Officials have not confirmed if the body is one of two swimmers who went missing in the water on Saturday evening. The initial rescue call around 8:30 p.m. Saturday reported three men struggling in the water near 16th Street.
One of the men was rescued and brought to shore. That individual was then taken to the hospital in critical condition. Police identified the other two men as 22-year-old Sergio Olcot Ajbal and 22-year-old Sergio Xinico of Chesapeake.
On Sunday morning, crews shifted their operations from a rescue mission to recovery efforts. That's when Virginia Beach Police took over marine operations from Virginia Beach EMS.
Then just a couple of hours later, around noon Sunday, they had to suspend the search temporarily because “conditions deteriorated ... due to a cold front and rough seas” and that high winds were causing risk to rescuers.
Search and recovery efforts resumed on Monday. Also on Monday, two girls were rescued from the rough surf in an unrelated incident.