Crews search for swimmer's body near Stinson Beach after witness describes shark attack

POINT REYES, Calif. - Crews on Monday began looking for the body of a missing swimmer along the Point Reyes National Seashore, officials told KTVU. 

The efforts turned from "search" to "recovery" on Monday, a Point Reyes seashore spokesperson said, adding that crews were scouring the area on ground. 

The saga began Sunday about 10:30 a.m. when the San Francisco Coast Guard received a call for a missing swimmer, who looked like they had been attacked by a shark in the Wild Cat Beach area about 10:30 a.m., a Coast Guard spokesperson told KTVU in a phone interview. 

But on Monday, it was unclear if a shark really had attacked the swimmer as crews were no longer looking in the water. 

The Point Reyes National Seashore posted that personnel from the National Park Service, Marin County and Stinson Beach Fire and the U.S. Coast Guard all joined in the search. 

"Our rescue swimmers deployed a dye pack, so that they could see the area of the current," Stinson Beach Fire Chief Jesse Peri said on Sunday. "Stinson is, unfortunately, known for having sharks out in the waters and most of the time humans and sharks live completely safely together."

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has tracked shark attacks along the California coast since 1950. 

There have been 24 shark attacks off the California coast since 2020, data shows.