Dive team recovers body of airman a day after he’s swept out to sea

UPDATE 11/12/14 5:00p.m.: The body of 24-year-old Khiem Nguyen who was swept out to sea Tuesday was recovered Wednesday morning. He was a National Guard airman.

The Monterey County Sheriff Dive team members said they found the Nguyen’s body about 25 feet deep and 10 meters off-shore from where he was said to have been swept off the rocks near Sobrantes Point.

The area near Garrapata State Beach just passed Carmel Highlands is known for high waves and dangerous surf.

The dive team found the body about 11:15am only 30 minutes in to the dive.

Emergency crews transferred Nguyen from the CALFIRE boat to the Coast Guard boat where it will be taken to the Monterey County Coroner’s Office in Salinas until family members can be contacted.

The search was called off Tuesday night because it got dark and the weather conditions were too dangerous to keep searching.

Nguyen was reported missing while fishing with three of his friends in the area of Garrapata State Beach.

11/11/14 : An extensive seven-hour search for a missing National Guard Airman is over and still there’s no sign of him. The U.S. Coast Guard said calling off the search is one of the most difficult decisions they have to make.

“The decision to suspend a search and rescue case is one of the most difficult decisions to make,” Capt. Greg Stump, Commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said in a statement. “I want to extend my sincere condolences to the family, friends and California Air National Guard. After conducting an extensive search for seven hours with our partner agencies, we made the challenging decision to suspend the active search,” Stump said.

The 24-year-old airman was swept by a wave off of Garrapata State Beach in Carmel and was reported missing on Tuesday around 9:30 a.m. According to the Coast Guard, he was assigned to the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Field. A lifeboat from Monterey and a helicopter crew from air station San Francisco and several partner agencies responded to the search. But on Tuesday night, they called off the search.