Rescuers were able to retrieve six children swimming with Dan Cojocea before the father-of-four went missing on Friday (Picture: Facebook)
The family of a man missing after being caught in the current off an Australian beach say they’re ‘just hoping for that one in a million miracle’ he will be found safe.
Father-of-four Dan Cojocea, 43, from Roxby Downs in South Australia, was swimming with six children near Mary Ellis Beach when the group were pulled out by an aggressive rip at roughly 4PM local time on Friday.
While rescuers were able to retrieve the children, four of whom are being treated in hospital for hypothermia, Cojocea has now been missing for more than 24 hours.
His sister, Camelia Cantell, told local press: ‘We’re still holding the highest hope in believing. Until there’s a resolution, until we find him, then we hope.
‘Maybe one day he’ll just laugh about it, about his adventures. He likes to tell a good story.’
She added: ‘We just want to find him. We’re believing that maybe he’s bumped his leg or whatever, but we’re believing in the best outcome. It’s never over until it’s over.
Ms Cantell urged members of the public with any information about his whereabouts to come forward and speak with police.
She stressed her brother is a ‘funny, fantastic man’, much loved by family and friends.
Police are understood to have launched a full-scale search using helicopters, drones, boats and ground crews in an attempt to locate Mr Cojocea.
Superintendent Paul Bahr said conditions near the beach where the father-of-four went missing had quickly become dangerous and challenging around the time he disappeared.
In particular, the winds had driven the waves up ‘quite high’, causing them to crash down with ‘severe’ force.
He said: ‘It was difficult conditions for swimmers. At the stage, the weather conditions are warm, the sea temperature is warm and we are not giving up hope just yet.’
Superintendent Bahr added that visitors to the coastal area, about 250km north-west of Adelaide, should be wary that the waters ‘are part of the Southern Ocean and subject to everything that comes with an ocean.’