LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (TNND) — The body of a 5-year-old girl who was swept away on a Southern California beach was found Thursday after a two-day search, according to officials.
The girl was with her mother and sibling in Laguna Beach, California, on Tuesday when they were “swept into the ocean by powerful water conditions while near the shoreline,” the City of Laguna Beach said in a news release.
“Bystanders immediately entered the water and successfully rescued the mother and one child,” officials added.
Body of 5-year-old swept into ocean found (KCAL,KCBS via CNN Newsource)
Laguna Beach Marine Safety personnel responded immediately and launched a search for the missing girl. Her body was found two days later about 250 to 300 yards offshore near Christmas Cove Beach, approximately one-quarter mile north of where she disappeared, officials said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Coroner Division positively identified the girl and notified her family.
At a vigil Thursday night, her father, Aaron Brown, remembered his daughter, Amada Mia Brown, as a little girl who loved “Moana” and “Frozen.”
“She was my little princess,” he said, according to KABC.
Brown also addressed online comments blaming the girl’s mother for the tragedy.
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“The simple fact is that she was doing anything any mother would do, take her children out to have a good time. Unfortunately, the waves were a little bit too much,” he said.