The 13-year-old twin brothers went missing near Beacher Pier Sunday night, officials said. The body of one of them was found on Tuesday.
GALVESTON, Texas – A second body was found Thursday during a search missing twin brothers Sunday evening in the water near the village Piers of Pleasure in Galvestonin accordance with officials.
In accordance with Galveston Island Beach Patrol officials, the second body was found around 1 a.m. Thursday near 47th and Seawall Boulevard.
Galveston Island Beach Patrol Lt. Austin Kirwin said he was found by someone walking about 10 feet from the shoreline. That person called 911.
Galveston Beach Patrol, EMS, police and firefighters responded to the scene and confirmed the boy matched the description of the missing twin.
His family has been notified, officials said.
“The story was very difficult for me and my staff because it’s the story of the American dream,” Chief Peter Davis said Thursday morning. “The family came from Honduras, they worked for a couple of years to prepare. (They) just recently were able to bring twins from Honduras. (They) went to the beach and the twins died in the water.’
The chief also said the incident was tragic because it happened the weekend before they began staffing rescue towers.
“There’s nothing more effective than a lifeguard on a tower to keep people away from those piers, marinas, where we always have gusts,” he said.
He said they believe the drowning occurred only on the west side of Pleasure Pier, which is a strong rip current.
On Tuesday morning, four people found the body near the shore, carried it onto the sand and called 911.
Authorities determined it was one of the twins’ bodies by what he was wearing and what he looked like before notifying the family.
“It’s a kind of closure. We’re in close contact and talking to the family, so we’re talking to them directly,” Kirwin said.
Family members identified the missing boys as Jefferson and Jose Perez, both 13 years old. It is still unclear which boy was found.
What happened
Officials said the teenagers went missing around 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Their family members spent about an hour searching for them before calling the police around 5:30 p.m. The boys’ mother said they couldn’t swim.
“They were in the water. The parents briefly lost sight of them, looked up and didn’t see them,” Kirwin said.
The boys’ parents said the boys were in waist-to-chest water about 20 yards from the west side of the pier when they were last seen.
The teenagers were last seen together Seawall Boulevard and 25th Street. Officials said no one reported seeing them go under the water.
The US Coast Guard used helicopters to assist search crews. Several other law enforcement agencies also assisted in the search.
Because the area was thick with fog, the Coast Guard had to call off the helicopter search on Monday. At sundown Monday, the Galveston Police Department began searching until Tuesday morning.
Family members said the boys asked to go to the beach. They said they just moved to Houston from Honduras last November to join their mother, who moved to Houston about 10 years ago.
Here is a district map:
https://www.10tv.com/article/news/nation-world/missing-twins-galveston-texas/285-b24877ce-9536-4ed0-9f6a-460f4a520582
