A 32-year-old high school math teacher from Long Island disappeared Sunday morning while surfing on a reef off Sumatra in Indonesia.
Danny Bobis was on a remote-island vacation with his wife, Rachel, 28; and a friend, Brian Lonergan, 32, according to the New York Post. Bobis was riding 12-foot waves when he disappeared at about 9 a.m. local time.
"Danny had just taken a wave before me," Lonergan told the Post through tears from his hotel in Sumatra. "I couldn't see him, and a few minutes later, his board washed up on the shore."
Bobis's wife and friends scoured the beach, and a professional search-and-rescue dive team arrived at the surf camp late Sunday night to join the search, according to the Post.
Lonergan told the Post the group has been pleading with local authorities and the U.S. consulate to send a rescue helicopter to aid the search, but due to the reef's remote location -- it's about a six-hour drive from the nearest airport -- they were told air support was a long shot.
The group has been on a six-week surfing safari, exploring exotic reefs across the Far East since June 30.
According to the Post, Bobis is a math teacher, a mentor for kids in his Long Beach community, and the co-founder of the Long Beach Surfer's Association. He coaches the state's only high-school surf team.
