Search­es con­tin­ued yes­ter­day for 17-year-old Gabriel Nel­son, who is be­lieved to have drowned in Ma­yaro on Sun­day. The Form Five stu­dent of St Stephen’s Col­lege was pulled un­der by a rip cur­rent while bathing at Grand La­goon.

Rel­a­tives said that around 4 pm, Nel­son, his 13-year-old broth­er, and their 20-year-old cousin, Nicholas Sinanan, ran in­to trou­ble while swim­ming. The two oth­er boys made it safe­ly to shore, but Gabriel was pulled un­der the wa­ter.

Gabriel, of George Vil­lage, Table­land, had left home around mid­day with his moth­er, step­fa­ther, broth­er, and cousin. The fam­i­ly ar­rived at the beach around 2 pm, and the boys were swim­ming about 50 feet from shore. About an hour lat­er, while the moth­er sat on the sand, her younger son told her they had been in chest-high wa­ter when Gabriel dis­ap­peared un­der­wa­ter.