Search is called off

Authorities have stopped searching for a man and woman who may have drowned after being swept off the east jetty in Corona del Mar Tuesday.

The two people may have been fishing and somehow ended up in the water, possibly because of the large swell, Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol Lt. Erin Giudice said. Someone called 911 at about 9:15 a.m. and reported people struggling in the water, she said.

Safety officials searched all the way to Laguna Beach because Tuesday’s strong currents could have carried them that way in minutes, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino said. But Harbor Patrol officials said the search was called off shortly after noon.

“The more time that passes, the chance for a successful rescue diminishes,” Amormino said.

Waves at the time were coming in 6- to 8-feet high, according to lifeguard authorities, not unusual for the area when swells approach from the south.

Newport Beach police described the people as a man in his 50s wearing jeans and a baseball cap, and a woman in her 40s wearing a white jacket, jeans and a straw hat.

A woman’s straw hat and a man’s shoe were found within 30 feet of where the people were last seen on the jetty by surfer Matthew Taylor.

“I went to paddle back out and people were yelling,” Taylor said. That is when he found the hat. Despite the search, the area along the jetty continued to be packed with surfers.

Newport Beach police said one witness at the beach saw the man and woman in the water, and a surfer said he saw them on the jetty earlier.

Police spoke with the surfer, but the other witness has not been found. A parking attendant at Corona del Mar State Beach, who called 911, may be the only person who spoke with him.

The attendant, Michael — who would not give his last name — said a man carrying a tackle box and dressed in fishing clothes approached him in the parking lot.

“He said two people were in the water and I needed to call 911,” Michael said.

After dialing the number, Michael said he handed the man the phone. “I told him, ‘Here, tell them what you saw,’ ” he said, but the man ran away from the beach, up the steep entrance street that leads into the parking lot.

Harbor Patrol Sgt. David Ginther said because it’s unlikely the man and woman are still alive, “the recovery part will unfortunately just occur when they surface…. There’s really nothing further we can do as far as a rescue type effort.”

Agencies including the Coast Guard, the Newport Beach Fire Department and Police Department and the Harbor Patrol assisted with the search.