FOURCHON -- On boats and surfboards, a helicopter and four-wheel ATVs, police, firefighters and beachgoers searched Saturday for a 6-year-old boy missing in the Gulf of Mexico’s surf.

WWL-TV

Even when the passage of time made it clear that this was a recovery, not a rescue effort, they pressed on, Fourchon Harbor Police Chief Jon Callais said.

Searchers’ worst fears were realized before dawn Sunday when a tiny form was caught in the glare of a patrol car’s headlights.

Still within the clutches of the waters that claimed his life were the remains of Mark Saenz Jr., who would have turned 7 later this month.

It all started at 1:24 p.m. Saturday when three children -- the 6-year-old, his 4-year-old brother, Miguel, and an 8-year-old cousin, Tyler, were believed swept away from the shoreline by a strong current.

When Harbor Patrol officer Jason Plaisance arrived at the beach, Michael Saenz Sr. was with his nephew, who had made it back in on his own.

Miguel had been rescued and needed emergency first aid; Plaisance established an airway and got him breathing normally.

But Mark Jr. was still missing. His devastated mother, Lena Saenz, tried again and again to find him.

"She was frantic, and she refused to come in," Callais said. "When rescuers went out to rescue her, she was fighting to stay out there. She wanted to continue the search."

Lena Saenz made her way to the Fourchon rock jetty, where rescuers tried to give her medical attention.

Volunteers from the Grand Isle Fire and Water Rescue team carried her back to the sandy shore on surfboards.

"She had abrasions and needed attention," Callais said. Medical personnel had to sedate the distraught woman and brought her to Lady of the Sea General Hospital.

As the afternoon wore on, the number of searchers swelled.

In addition to Harbor Patrol officers and the Grand Isle rescuers, there were volunteers from Lafourche Fire District 3, officers from the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office and State Police. PHI helicopters donated use of helicopter. A Coast Guard HH-665 circled overhead while a 23-foot boat from Grand Isle’s Coast Guard station joined in the search.

The search was pared when night fell, but officers vowed to resume before daybreak.

About 3:30 a.m., a Harbor Patrol officer, P.J. Lyons, was traveling the beach with his four-wheel-drive Durango when he spotted the child’s body.

Callais and other searchers said they regret that nothing could be done for the child, but they said they hope parents will take extra precautions this summer at the beach.

"It wasn’t three hours from when we knew we had a drowning victim, and five or six small children were swimming or in the surf with parents sitting out in the dunes," Callais said. "Not one of them had any flotation devices on."

Flotation devices can mean the difference between life and death for children caught in currents, Callais said.

"If something would happen, we would be searching to try and rescue instead of trying to recover their bodies," he said.