SURFSIDE BEACH — Joshua Lahai, an 11-year-old boy from Richmond visiting Surfside Beach with a youth football team from Fort Bend County, was swept away in rough surf near the Ocean Avenue beach access point around 5:30 p.m. Sunday. His body was recovered more than 30 hours later, about half a mile west of where he was last seen.

Search crews arrived on the beach within two minutes of receiving the initial call, according to Surfside Beach Police Chief Phillip Hester. Drones, a helicopter, and ATVs were deployed in the search, and Hester called in Tim Miller and Texas EquuSearch to assist. Large amounts of seaweed in the water complicated recovery efforts, Miller said, while rough surf and strong currents further hindered the operation.

Joshua’s shorts were found approximately 24 hours after he disappeared. A young man who was with Joshua told police they had been near the second or third sandbar when a wave lifted them off the bottom. The pair panicked when they could no longer touch the sand, and Joshua went underwater as the wave crashed, Hester said.

A fisherman discovered Joshua’s body about 150 feet offshore when he felt something touch his leg. Crews recovered the body and brought it back to shore. This incident marked the second consecutive year the Surfside Beach Police Department responded to a drowning during the Memorial Day holiday weekend, Hester noted.