Two anglers are swept off jetty in Newport Beach; no bodies are found

Helicopters and rescue boats suspended their search late Tuesday for two people who witnesses said were swept off a jetty in Corona del Mar by a large wave.

“They’ve been missing for a while. They’re presumed dead,” said Jim Slikker, an Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol deputy. “It’s almost next to impossible to find them with the visibility being bad tonight.”

Two witnesses said the victims were an Asian man in his 50s who was wearing jeans and a baseball cap and an Asian woman wearing a white jacket, jeans and a straw hat.

Authorities publicized the descriptions in an effort to determine their identities. No one had come forward with their names as of Tuesday evening.

Within a few hours of the 9:15 a.m. incident, the woman’s hat and the man’s shoe washed ashore near the jetty, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

After the pair were pulled into the 60-degree water, witnesses said, they weren’t seen again. The couple’s fishing equipment and a cooler remained on the jetty that separates Newport Bay from Corona del Mar State Beach.

Teams searched the ocean south to Laguna Beach with boats and helicopters because the current was especially strong. Authorities became discouraged as the day wore on and reduced the number of searchers.

“Obviously, as time passes, the chances of a successful recovery dwindle,” Amormino said.

The pair were taking a high risk by fishing from the jetty because it is regularly pounded by large waves. A sign in large print said the jetty was closed, and lifeguards posted red flags Tuesday to warn beachgoers of the dangerous surf.

But the water was deceptively calm for much of the morning and overtook the jetty with a large swell only every 45 minutes or so.

On calm days, dozens of people fish off the same rocks.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.