{"id":308539,"date":"2026-05-26T00:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T00:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/308539\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T00:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T00:36:09","slug":"were-not-giving-up-crews-hold-onto-hope-as-recovery-efforts-continue-for-missing-11-year-old-at-surfside-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/308539\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re not giving up\u2019: Crews hold onto hope as recovery efforts continue for missing 11-year-old at Surfside Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas \u2013 Search crews are still combing the waters off Surfside Beach more than 24 hours after a 11-year-old boy was swept away while swimming.<\/p>\n

Joshua Lahai of Richmond went missing Sunday at approximately 5 p.m. while at the beach with his family and his youth football team. Surfside Beach Police Chief Philip Hester told KPRC 2 Monday evening that the effort shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission.<\/p>\n

OUR FIRST REPORT: Recovery efforts underway at Surfside Beach after 11-year-old boy from Richmond swept under water by wave Sunday evening<\/a><\/p>\n

Police say Joshua was swimming with a friend when he went under and was swept away. The U.S. Coast Guard, multiple law enforcement agencies and Texas EquuSearch have been searching for him ever since <\/p>\n

Tim Miller, the founder of Texas EquuSearch, has been on the ground since Sunday night. He told KPRC 2 he spoke with Joshua\u2019s family several times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just met with the family again and let them know that we\u2019re not giving up. Conditions aren\u2019t nearly as good as we\u2019d like them to be. The family actually seen him out there and seen him go down. And so they\u2019re devastated,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

When asked about what may have pulled Joshua under, Miller pointed to multiple factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think it\u2019s a combination of currents, the sandbar, the waves and not knowing,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Despite the dire circumstances, Miller says he is holding onto hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in miracles and it has to be a hell of a miracle, but I think from witness sightings and everything, the most we can hope for is to get him recovered before the day\u2019s over,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

The search has been complicated by the Memorial Day holiday, which drew hundreds of people to the beach \u2014 many unaware of the ongoing operation just steps away.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Teen rushed to hospital after being bitten by shark on offshore boat near Galveston Beach<\/a><\/p>\n

Surfside Beach Police Chief Hester is urging anyone planning a trip to the beach to take the water conditions seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe water is not safe. I can\u2019t tell what\u2019s under the water, so you\u2019re out there walking and you might be in water that\u2019s two-foot deep and then fall into a hole that\u2019s 10-foot deep. It\u2019s just not safe,\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

He also warned about a false sense of security that beach conditions can create.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople look at the waves and think it\u2019s safe and they go further out. But once you get to the third sandbar, you\u2019re 200, 300 feet out there and we can\u2019t even see you anymore,\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n

Miller says he made a promise to Joshua\u2019s family \u2014 he will remain at Surfside Beach until Joshua is found.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas \u2013 Search crews are still combing the waters off Surfside Beach more than 24 hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111512,56,58,57,66,671,111513,22738,223,111511,47594,44448,84298],"class_list":["post-308539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-galveston-beach","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-local","tag-missing","tag-missing-boy","tag-missing-child","tag-news","tag-surfside","tag-surfside-beach","tag-texas-equusearch","tag-tim-miller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}