Searchers find body believed to be that of a woman swept into ocean from popular Washington beach

RIALTO BEACH, Wash. (AP) — The search for a 26-year-old woman who was swept into the ocean from a popular beach on the Washington coast has ended after a body was found that matches her description, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.

The Coast Guard said it received a call at 10:50 a.m. Monday about a woman who was reportedly taken by ocean currents while she was on Rialto Beach near Olympic National Park.

Park rangers found a body matching the woman’s description on Rialto Beach around 5 p.m. Monday, the Coast Guard said.

The woman’s name wasn’t released.

Rialto Beach is northwest of Seattle on the Olympic Peninsula.

Coast Guard helicopter crews searched about 51 square miles (132 square kilometers) for more than five hours, and had a team searching on land. Officers from the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office and the La Push Tribal Police Department, in addition to park rangers, helped in the search.

The National Weather Service in Seattle had issued a small craft advisory and a gale warning Monday along the coast for strong winds causing hazardous seas. A powerful system has been bringing heavy rain, gusty winds, below-average temperatures and a wintry mix at higher elevations to parts of the Northwest, including western Washington and western Oregon, the weather service said.

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