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CARLSBAD, Calif. — The Coast Guard will continue to assist California State Parks in a search for a possible missing swimmer in Carlsbad that involved a number of agencies, police said Sunday.

After a massive response by lifeguards from the state, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Encinitas and Del Mar, emergency officials said they were not able to locate a victim.

“At this point we’re not sure,” Carlsbad Fire Captain Eric Evonsion said. “The person that was potentially in distress may have swam away and walked up on shore and is watching the whole thing from the bluff, so there is no way of us to know that. It’s more of a waiting game now.”

According to firefighters, several witnesses said they saw a man wearing swim trunks struggling in the water just before 2 p.m. Sunday.

“An adult swimmer in trunks, not in a wetsuit, that was the description we had,” Evonsion said.

At around 3:30 p.m., Carlsbad police said on Twitter that a search was underway in the area of Tower 37 and Chestnut Avenue.

“The search for the possibly missing swimmer is being carefully conducted by land, air and sea,” Carlsbad police said.

The beachside sidewalk in the area of Chestnut Avenue was briefly closed because of congestion from Sycamore Avenue to Chestnut Avenue.

“We got to be careful about like where we swim and stuff, because you just never know and it could lead to this,” bystander Riley Murphy said.

Authorities are asking beachgoers to contact them if anyone knows someone who went swimming and has not returned. City and state park lifeguards were expected to be on scene into the night.