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Body of Missing Swimmer Recovered

Thu, 08/20/2020 - 17:27
Police took a statement from an unidentified man on the beach Tuesday after Byron Dong Ha Kim disappeared in the surf.
Doug Kuntz

The body of a Brooklyn man who disappeared in the surf on Napeague Tuesday was recovered on Thursday afternoon.

East Hampton Town Police said that Byron Dong Ha Kim's body was found in the water off the Ocean Vista Resort, which is about a half-mile east of where he had been seen last.

The search for Mr. Kim began at about 12:30 on Tuesday afternoon, after he and another man were seen apparently struggling in the water. Surf conditions at the time were moderate, but East Hampton Volunteer Ocean Rescue Chief Bob Pucci said that a rip current had scoured out a deep channel into which the men might have stumbled.

Searchers initially performed sweeps of the near-shore area near the Windward Shores resort. Mr. Kim had not been a guest there. The search was paused Tuesday night and resumed in the water the following morning at first light. It was formally suspended Wednesday, while police continued looking for his body along the shore.

Police said that Mr. Kim's body had been taken to the Suffolk County medical examiners office in Hauppauge to determine his formal cause of death.

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