Coast Guard searching for missing swimmer off Pacifica coast

PACIFICA, Calif. (KGO) -- Pacifica Police have identified the man who disappeared in the ocean this morning as 28-year-old Tyler Collins of Merced County.

Police say a group of men who are visiting the area were on Rockaway Beach when two of them decided to get in the water. They say Collins disappeared around 3:30 a.m.

"At approximately 4:21 a.m. we got a report of a missing swimmer. We got a report that two people went into the water. One person returned, the friend did not. They searched, they could not find him, they called us," said Pacifica Police Captain Joe Spanheimer.

Pacifica Police called in the Coast Guard who searched by boat and from up above in a helicopter. Police say the man who came back to shore said they felt like the water was pulling them under.

"You have riptide and dangerous undertow that is not always visible, but makes it difficult to come back to shore even though it may be very close," said Spanheimer.

This happened in front of Pacifica's Lighthouse Hotel. Police have not said why the men decided to get in the water.