A wrestler from San Francisco State University vanished on Thursday after taking a polar plunge off a Californian beach, according to investigators.
Around 10:30 a.m., Hamzah Alsaudi, 22, and two pals were swimming at Esplanade Beach when they were struck by a strong wave, according to Pacifica police.
The second-year college student was dragged away from the shore and submerged beneath the water. Alsudi was nowhere to be found, so his pals returned to the shore and dialled 911.
Police, lifeguards, and the Coast Guard discontinued their search for Alsaudi on Friday after deploying drones, aircraft, and a surface vessel.
SF State reports that the hunt won’t pick up this weekend.
“I write to you with a heavy heart,” the school said in a statement. “At this time, we have been told that authorities are no longer actively searching for Hamzah, and he is considered missing.”
Alsaudi was hauled out to sea while in Pacifica, a community 15 miles south of San Francisco, which was experiencing hazardous rip tides.
Buddies informed KTVU that Alsaudi and his friends had taken the “polar plunge,” which is a wintertime swimming craze in which swimmers jump into icy water. According to measurements, the Pacifico’s water was 53 degrees on Wednesday.
Alsaudi is a decorated athlete who is pursuing a degree in political science with a minor in studies of Arab and Muslim ethnicities and diasporas (AMED). Despite having lived in Santa Monica, he was an Iraqi-born man.
