10-Year-Old Arkansas Boy Drowns In Texas Beach As Father Helplessly Watched

A search-and-rescue party on the Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, on Saturday, found the body of a 10-year-old child in the waters near Crystal Beach after he and his father went missing. The father was found alive.

The boy, identified as Micah Batson, and his father went into the water around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday near Trinidad Road on the Bolivar Peninsula.

"The father went into the water with the son, and the mother lost sight of both of them," Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset told local media.

The officials responded to the scene after they received a call from a woman saying that her husband and son had gone missing in the waters.

According to Trochesset, the search-and-rescue party found the boy's body around 3:15 p.m. Saturday (May 2), about five miles away from where he had disappeared.

According to a news release, the U.S. Coast Guard responded to the scene with the crew of Air Station Houston MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, a 45-foot boat crew, and a 29-foot boat crew, and initiated a search for the missing father and son.

Trochesset said the father was found by the team about an hour into the search. The father later told the search party that waves hit them hard and separated him from his son. The father said he was helpless and had to watch the tides pull away his son until he lost sight of him.

"The boy was struggling trying to make contact back with his father, the father was trying to make contact with him but the water kept pulling them apart,” Trochesset said

Speaking to local media, a witness said, "I saw the coast guard helicopter go by and figured that there was probably something that wasn’t good,”

Micah had just turned 10 on Thursday. His family hailed from Little Rock, Arkansas.

Micah’s family and friends have started a GoFundMe page to help them with funeral costs and more than $11,000 has already been raised.

The search-and-rescue group included the Coast Guard, Galveston County Sheriff's Office, and Bolivar Volunteer Fire Department.