A U.S. Marine from Massachusetts who was swept away by the current at a Puerto Rico beach on Wednesday has been identified amid an ongoing search.
The U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies were still searching for 26-year-old Samuel Maturi Wanjiru, who disappeared from the beach, authorities said.
The incident occurred at about 3:58 p.m. Wednesday at La Pared Beach in Luquillo, police said.
The search was temporarily stopped Thursday because of strong currents, Telemundo Puerto Rico reported, but authorities were considering restarting the search in the afternoon. His partner told the authorities that he was standing on the reef and the waves knocked him into the sea.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Wanjiru was visiting the island with his family, when he went distress after going into the water, the Coast Guard said Thursday.
Jesús Márquez, the mayor of Luquillo, told Telemundo Puerto Rico that it's a very complicated time of year for coastal towns, since the surf is strong and because of the large number of people who go to the beaches.
"In fact, many more people are expected in Luquillo starting Thursday, but we already started today with a tragedy," Márquez said Wednesday. "He was walking in flat waters. He sank because in this area, there are areas with underwater falls and they are not for this time when the swell is this way — the currents dragged him."
