A five-year-old girl died and her 54-year-old grandfather remains missing after they were pulled into the Pacific Ocean by a giant wave off the coast of California over the weekend.
The Coast Guard responded to reports that two individuals were hit by a sneaker wave at Martin’s Beach in California’s Half Moon Bay at around 2 p.m. on Saturday, officials announced on Monday.
San Mateo County firefighters were able to locate the girl, who has been identified as Yaretzi Noemi Biorato, of Merced, Calif., and brought her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard searched for her grandfather, Pascal Soriano.
It deployed helicopters and boats to search over 100 miles of the Pacific Ocean for Soriano, but after about 22 hours, officials called off the search.
“The decision to suspend search efforts is one of the hardest decisions to make, but our crews searched for nearly 24 hours without any sightings of the missing person,” Jordan Baldueza, deputy commander of the US Coast Guard Sector San Francisco said in a statement.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this tragic event.”
Prior to Biorato and Soriano’s outing to the beach, the National Weather Service had warned beachgoers to “remain out of the water” as “large, unexpected waves can sweep across the beach without warning, sweeping people from rocks, jetties and beaches.”
It put in place a “sneaker wave” warning, which occurs when a rush of water surges up the coast farther than expected, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Some can surge more than 150 feet up the beach, and firefighters told meteorologists with the Bay Area National Weather Service office that high tides on Saturday were over six feet, Fox Weather reports.
Biorato was remembered over the weekend as a “beautiful soul” who spent “five bright and beautiful” years on the Earth.
“We lost a beautiful soul unexpectedly,” Danielle Velazquez wrote in an online fundraiser for the young girl’s family.
“We ask in whatever form that you are able to help so that we are able to lay to rest our beautiful baby girl Yaretzi.
“God has called upon her to enter his kingdom after she shared five beautiful and bright years of her life with us,” Velazquez wrote.
“Please offer respect and condolences to her family she leaves behind, and if you are able to contribute to any foreseeable costs, we greatly appreciate it.”