The body of a man who went missing in the ocean washed up on shore in Myrtle Beach Monday.
The Horry County coroner's office says Lakelyon Horton, 25, from Lenoir, North Carolina, was found at 1:30 a.m. near 24th Avenue North.
Myrtle Beach police say they got a call of a struggling swimmer in the ocean Saturday near 26th Avenue South. Several crews searched for Horton, mostly by air.
Lifeguard instructors say drowning victims are often within a few feet of other swimmers who have no idea someone next to them is in trouble.
The U.S. Coast Guard says about half of the children who drown each year, do so within 25 yards of a parent or adult.
It's due to something called the instinctive drowning response. People who are drowning won't scream for help or flail their arms, because they're struggling too hard just to breathe.
North Myrtle Beach lifeguard coordinator Monte Reed said lifeguards are trained to spot the signs, but most swimmers are unaware of them.
"When the lifeguards perform the water rescue, there's people around them and they have no clue that that individual's struggling, whether they're actively drowning or they're just a distressed swimmer," Reed said.
Reed said the signs of instinctive drowning response include:
*A head low in the water
*Hair in the face
*The body vertical in the water, with no supportive kick
*Arms reaching upward like the swimmer is climbing a ladder
Reed says you should contact a lifeguard immediately if you see a swimmer showing those signs, but take care if you approach a drowning person yourself.
"All they want to do is get out of the water, get some air. They're gonna push you down, they're gonna latch onto you, they're gonna pull you under."
Sue Houston of Virginia Beach, Virginia was sunbathing in North Myrtle Beach Monday, and keeping a close eye on family and friends in the water. Houston spends a lot of time at the beach and said she knows that most people have the wrong idea of what a drowning person looks like.
"The flailing and the screaming and the going under 3 times. That's just not the case."
