A body pulled from the ocean off the coast of Newport Beach Tuesday morning has been identified as the swimmer who went missing near the Newport Pier on July 1, according to authorities.
Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials confirmed the deceased was Christopher Van Nguyen, 18, from the United Kingdom, on Thursday.
Nguyen went missing on his 18th birthday on July 1 while snorkeling near Newport Pier. The British teen was on his second day of vacation.
At approximately 8:35 a.m., an OCSD helicopter discovered his body in the ocean while on routine patrol, OCSD Public Information Officer Carrie Braun explained in an email Tuesday. They located his body approximately 300-500 yards offshore.
Harbor Patrol recovered the body of an adult male and brought him back to the dock to be examined by the coroner, Braun confirmed. OCSD used Cal-ID to confirm his fingerprints.
