French Tourist Drowns Off Miami Beach

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The body of a missing tourist washed ashore on Miami Beach early Monday morning.

Lea Guillaume, 32, told police around 3:30 a.m. she, her husband Frederic, 40, and four friends decided to take a dip in the ocean in the area of Ocean Drive and 2nd Street. She said as the group walked out they noticed the waves were strong and it became difficult to stand. They decided it wasn't safe and headed back in. Guillaume said it was difficult because the current kept pulling them out.

Lea said Frederic wasn't able to make it to shore and disappeared into the ocean.

"His friends said he was a good swimmer but apparently not good enough for the evening and the rip tides," said Miami Beach police spokeswoman Det. Vivian Hernandez.

They immediately called the police, who contacted the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard searched for the missing man by air and water for several hours.

Around 6:30 a.m., a man waved a Miami-Dade sanitation worker over after he spotted a body which had washed ashore around 5th Street.

"I was just sitting in a chair and, truth be told, the birds pointed right to where the body was," said the man who did not wish to be named in this report.

The man and county worker then flagged down a beach patrol officer.

Guillaume and her husband were visiting from France. Monday was supposed to be their last day in South Florida before they returned home.