On Monday, five experienced surfers drowned off the coast of the Netherlands. Dutch authorities reported that a storm in the area caused a layer of foam to form in the water, hindering the rescue mission. Of the group of ten surfers, one person was rescued, while five other bodies were recovered over the span of two days. The remaining bodies have yet to be recovered from the area.
The victims, who were all instructors and lifeguards at a surf school in the area, range from the ages of 22 to 38 and were left stranded in the north harbor of the Scheveningen district of The Hague. The Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Organization (KNRM) reported that the rescue mission involved police, firefighters, coastguard and emergency workers. Those involved in the rescue used a helicopter to blow the foam away in an attempt to better visibility.
The KNRM reported that the layer of foam at both the sea and on the beach severely complicated the mission because "strong winds and high waves... made it very difficult to provide relief from the harbor pier."
"The heavy grief among people in the Scheveningen community is unfathomable. People here understand better than anybody else that 'The sea gives and the sea takes', but the way in which so many young lives ended abruptly and so many families and groups of friends have been affected is incredibly brutal," Johan Remkes, mayor of The Hague, said in a statement.
