It's been almost a week since a teen couple vanished while spending an evening at a Hawaii beach. The couple had gone swimming at Oahu's North Shore when they went missing.
Since then, search and rescue have located human remains. However, they haven't identified whether the remains belong to the couple or not. The Coast Guard also announced that it was calling off its search for the missing couple.
In a statement on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Coast Guard felt there was nothing more they could do. 17-year-old Samantha Chun and 18-year-old Joey Fujioka disappeared from the beach in Hawaii.
"Considering all pertinent factors and available information, we made the difficult decision to suspend our search efforts," Lt. Cmdr. Michelle Rice, the search and rescue mission coordinator, said in the statement. "We are grateful to our agency partners for their teamwork and extend our deepest condolences to Samantha and Joseph's families during this difficult time."
Teen Couple Vanishes
The last time anyone saw the teens were when they visited a convenience store on January 17. By the next morning, members of their family found some of their belongings on the beach. The Coast Guard kicked off an extensive search for the missing couple, searching more than 2,321 miles.
The two went missing during a romantic night at the beach.
"They set up a blanket on the beach nearby where they parked and this blanket along with their cellular telephone, wallets, clothing, and other personal items were recovered from the beach," police Lt. Deena Thoemmes said, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Police later found Fujioka's vehicle.
"Just moments ago we received a report from the medical examiner's office that those remains are in fact human and we have informed the family of such. We do not have confirmation though that those remains are related to this search effort," said Jaimie Song, a fire captain.
"We don't know what happened that night," the families said. "We don't know for sure they went into the water. The waves were huge."
