THE sister of a missing swimmer has broken her silence, asking for help in the search for her brother who vanished off the Florida coast.
Authorities have stopped the search operation for the missing swimmer who was last seen in the Atlantic Ocean and started recovery efforts for the body.
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Curtis Newkirk, 19, went missing in Jacksonville Beach, Florida on Sunday night.
Police say he was in the ocean off the Jacksonville Beach coast shortly after 7.30pm before he vanished.
Drones and dive teams have been deployed in an effort to find the missing swimmer.
Newkirk's sister, Victoria, posted photos of her brother on Facebook, along with an urgent plea for others to help find him.
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"Please reach out to me if you hear or see anything about my brother he is still missing," she said on Monday followed by a broken heart and prayer hands emojis.
Victoria also posted a missing persons flyer on Facebook, which Newkirk's aunt replied to.
"We won’t give up. We are heading out this morning," Autencia Hampton said.
In a separate post on her page, Hampton made her own emotional appeal.
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"I need all of my prayer warriors to call on heaven for us! We need him back," she wrote.
Hampton asked others to stay alert: "If anyone is in Jax beach area keep an eye out and call. My nephew went swimming yesterday and is still missing in the water."
She added: "If anyone is available we are heading back out to search please help us."
Bridgette Taggart was there when lifeguards sprang into action, jumping into the water to search for Newkirk.
She told Action News Jax that there was a group of about 11 people of friends and family members of Newkirk who looked visibly upset.
Taggart recalled the group saying how they were in the water for a little bit and stepped off a sandbar, however afterward they noticed that Newkirk was missing.
“The rip current had taken them rather far to the right, and by the time they got out of the water, they thought he was already out," she said.
"They made their way back to the towels and realized he wasn’t there."
Taggart tried to help Newkirk's distressed loved ones.
“His family and friends were asking everyone to look on the beach because he could’ve came [sic] out further down and was still working his way back.
"So, a bunch of people, myself and my friend included, were walking up and down the beach looking for his shorts.”
Police say Newkirk was wearing Blue Nautica swim trunks with a red and yellow design.
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