On May 24, 2026, 11-year-old Joshua Lahai was visiting Surfside Beach in Brazoria County, Texas, with his youth football team. They were enjoying the day at the beach to celebrate Memorial Day, as many people do because it’s the unofficial kick-off of summer. Like any kid, he was having fun going in the water with his teammates and having a lot of fun. But then things took a turn. A large wave came and washed the boy out into the water.
First responders quickly began to search for him, with many local authorities and organizations joining in. Despite difficult conditions, they searched for 24 hours. Sadly, the search didn’t end the way people had hoped.
The boy’s family did speak out about his disappearance.
Twenty-four hours after the boy went missing, his family had more questions than answers, KTRK reported at the time. Joshua went under the water around 5:30 p.m., and the rescue mission began very quickly thereafter.
“We don’t know exactly what happened. I guess I just want that closure for my mom cause I know this is hard on her,” Peter Lahai told the news station.
According to Texas EquuSearch, the boy’s relatives said they witnessed his disappearance. “We would at least want to have that closure of, we have a body. That’s the worst, not knowing,” Peter Lahai shared, per KTRK.
The family also expressed confusion about why the beach was still open as crews searched for Joshua. First responders, however, said they don’t usually close the beach after a drowning. But the family expressed fear that people visiting may not know they should be on the lookout for a missing boy. “We’re just trying to figure out what is going on,” Emmanuel Lahai said.
Nearly two days after his disappearance, Joshua Lahai was found.
At a news conference on May 26, Surfside Beach Police Chief Phillip Hester indicated that Joshua Lahai had been found dead that morning.
According to Hester, Officer Christopher Redmond had been patrolling Beach Drive that day when he spoke with a fisherman who said that while he was wade fishing, he felt “something” bump against his leg.
Redmond jumped into the water and found Joshua’s body floating about 150 yards offshore. He brought the body on shore. Hester said the boy’s body was found anywhere between a half and three-quarters of a mile east of where he was hit by the wave. His family had been notified.
“It was a challenge, but I didn’t think at all,” Redmond said during the news conference. “My job was to get the body in [and] bring closure to the family. Although it was a tragic day, at least he’s home.”
It was not an easy search or recovery mission.
According to Hester, recovery efforts were made more difficult by a strong current and rough surf, KVUE reported.
“From what the young man who was out there with him came to me and told me, they were out probably about the second or third sandbar and got lifted off the sandbar. When they came back down, they weren’t touching, panicked a little bit, and then the wave started crashing. Joshua went underneath,” he said.
About 24 hours after finding out about Joshua’s disappearance, crews found the shorts he had been wearing when he went under, KVUE reported.
According to Hester, crews were on the beach within two minutes of getting the call about the boy. A drone was in the air, and teams also used a helicopter and ATVs during their search.
Tim Miller of Texas EquuSearch said excessive amounts of seaweed in the water definitely complicated their search efforts, per KVUE.
