Teen boy drowns

A Claremont high school senior drowned Monday after being caught in a violent rip current at Huntington State Beach.

Taeho Lee, 18, and two other friends were celebrating high school graduation at the beach when they got caught in a strong crosscurrent. Lee went into deeper water to help one of the friends and got caught in the rip tide himself, said Rich Haydon, a lifeguard supervisor for California State Parks.

A third friend was able to make it back to shore and called a 911.

Lifeguards searched for the two teenagers and rescued one from the riptide. A scuba diverfound Lee’s body in 30 feet of water about 40 minutes later.

Lee died at 7.41 p.m. at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach, a coroner’s official said. Lee’s second friend was released from the hospital Monday night.