Lifeguards come up empty in search for body in ocean off La Jolla coast

San Diego lifeguards searched the ocean for a body reportedly swept away from La Jolla’s shore March 10, but they came up empty.

The search was launched in an area off Coast Boulevard near the northern end of Marine Street Beach after a resident reported seeing a motionless body on the sand in ankle-deep water. By the time the resident went out to the spot, the body or object had been carried out into the ocean by a current, lifeguard Capt. Maureen Hodges told OnScene.TV.

She said the tide was “relatively high” early in the morning.

Aided by a San Diego Fire-Rescue Department helicopter crew, divers and lifeguards on two small boats and two personal watercraft searched for the reported body.

Divers planned to search within the surf zone using sonar, according to Fire-Rescue Department spokeswoman Monica Muñoz.

She later said the divers and lifeguards came up empty.

“They passed along the information to the Coast Guard since they have some technology that can predict where something might end up if it drifts,” Muñoz said. ◆