6-Hour Search Fails to Find Bodyboarder

A 23-year-old Westminster man on an outing with friends Wednesday apparently drowned at Huntington State Beach, officials said.

Four men were in the water about 3 p.m. near an unstaffed lifeguard tower by Pacific Coast Highway and Newland Street when one of them slipped from a bodyboard and did not resurface, lifeguard supervisor Joseph Milligan said.

One of the other three rushed to another lifeguard tower and summoned help. After nearly six hours of a search that included 30 lifeguards, a diving team, boats and helicopters, the man was not found and presumed dead, Milligan said.

His name was not released pending notification of relatives.

Milligan said that sea conditions were not particularly rough and that the lifeguard tower near where the man disappeared was not in use because crowds at the beach were small.