College students swept into ocean in Santa Cruz

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for two University of California, Santa Cruz students who went missing after big waves swept them out to sea.

A search is underway today for two Bay Area residents missing since Monday evening in the waters off Bonny Doon State Beach in Santa Cruz County, authorities said.

The 22-hour search covered 46 square miles before it was suspended today, Coast Guard officials said.

The families of the missing students are “extremely worried” for them, Baig said.

Shireen Agha Ahsan, 19, of Palo Alto, and Solaiman Nourzaie, 25, of San Jose, are sophomores at University of California at Santa Cruz and were at the beach with a group of classmates Monday afternoon, Cal Fire and university officials said.

A third student was also swept off the rock, but made it back to shore. An ocean rescue started with the Coast Guard, State Parks, Santa Cruz Fire, Cal Fire, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and American Medical Response.

About 500 to 1,000 people are expected to attend Wednesday’s vigil, where they will say prayers and call for the search to continue, Baig said.

“When his father died three years ago, he told me he was good with it because it was the will of Allah, the will of God”, Ahmed said.

Where: Bonny Doon Beach Parking Lot, Hwy. Firefighters set up lights on the cliff.

On Monday night, a Coast Guard helicopter crew searched for the victims until 11 p.m. The helicopter was the “primary resource”, Wolcott said, because no one could see them from shore to rescue them with a boat, rescue jet ski or rescue swimmer. The ocean conditions were so tough that rescue swimmers could not enter the water.

A helicopter crew was also deployed and used infrared camera that saw two images in the water near a cave, according to Stanton.

About 5 p.m., one of the students called 911.

Wolcott, of State Parks, said it’s not clear if the pair is alive. The students stranded on rocks were rescued by a rope system set up by firefighters down the 70-foot cliff. “People can put themselves at risk, as well as the lives of rescuers, by not keeping a safe distance from the ocean and cliffs”, Frawley said.