The family of a 14-year-old Southern Wayne student who has been missing near North Topsail Beach since Thursday is asking the community for help.
Yunior Perez, 26, told Goldsborodailynews.com on Saturday his family is seeking anyone who owns a boat and is willing to assist in the search for his brother Mainor.
Yunior can be reached by calling (919) 330-2364.
A GoFundMe has been created to assist the family in their search for Mainor.
“We haven’t been able to find anything,” Yunior said. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with the police department and the fire department to see when they are going to look for (Mainor) again. I’ve been looking for my brother over the weekend. If anyone has a boat and is willing to help look for my brother, it would be greatly appreciated. I have tried to rent a boat but because it’s the weekend all the boats are booked until maybe Monday or Tuesday.”
Officials with the Coast Guard and local police resumed their search on Friday morning for Mainor but had not found him as of 5 p.m. on Friday.
The search for Mainor continued on Saturday with officials from the North Topsail Beach Police Department, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, the North Topsail Beach Fire Department, and Camp Lejeune. North Topsail Beach Police Chief William Younginer remains adamant that the search for Mainor will continue until he’s found.
“We don’t stop,” Chief Younginer said. “We’ve been out there every day. (Saturday) the wind made it really tough on our drone. The fire department boat broke down, but as soon as it’s fixed it will be back out there. We’ve been out doing patrols on the beach. Our best time to find him is in the first four days, but we won’t stop until we find him. Even if it’s a week from now, we won’t stop.”
Chief Younginer added that his department responded to five rescue calls on Thursday related to rip currents, and he encourages the public to study rip current safety videos and other resources, and to practice how to respond while in rip currents.
Yunior and his parents have been driving back and forth from Wayne County to North Topsail Beach each day to continue their search for Mainor.
Yunior and Mainor were fishing in the New River Inlet on Thursday around 11 a.m. when Mainor was swept away. According to WRAL.com, witnesses reported that passengers in a nearby boat were able to pull Yunior into the boat.
“On Thursday, we were just enjoying the day on the Fourth of July,” Yunior said. “Most of the time we go to Wilmington, but we decided to come to a different area for a different experience, but it just went terribly wrong. The water wasn’t too deep, but someone explained to me later there are holes like 30 feet deep, and I think that’s what happened, (Mainor) slipped in and he couldn’t get out. The current was going in and not going out.”
Chief Younginer described the area where Yunior and Mainor were fishing as similar in location to where a 17-year-old boy went missing last summer. Despite warning signs in the area in both English and Spanish, the location still presents a risk.
“There’s a shelf that you can walk out on, and it’s been dredged recently, but if you step off that shelf, you’re in 30 feet of water,” Chief Younginer said. “We ride by there pretty often and warn people fishing, and warn parents that there’s a drop off. It’s close to the same area where a 17-year-old who was using a cast net went missing last summer. He floated up on the third day.”
With each day that passes without Mainor being found, his family wrestles with the reality that he may no longer be alive. Recovering Mainor’s body while also trying to process the whirlwind of emotions they’ve been experiencing reamins their main priority.
“It’s hard to accept but I’m pretty sure (Mainor) is not alive anymore,” Yunior said. “We’re trying to recover his body and bring him back home. My parents are trying to be strong. The first two days it was really, really hard for them. As the days go on, you try to accept what happen. We’re trying our best to find him.”
Yunior described his brother as someone who never turns down an opportunity to help those in need, and who already had his sights set on his future after high school.
“He used to help a lot, he never refused for any favor,” Yunior said. “You could ask him for anything, he would always help you out. He was that type of person. Most of our family, we are like that, if we can help, we help everybody. Me and my brother, we had the best relationship. I started a construction company about six months ago, and he was helping me with that. He was already planning on attending Wayne Community College and then transferring to UNC Chapel Hill.”
