A second body of missing twins has been found after the boys went missing in Galveston earlier this week.

Authorities have confirmed that the second body that appeared on the beach in Galveston in the early hours of Thursday, March 9, belonged to a missing 13-year-old twin boy. Earlier this week, the body of the first 13-year-old was discovered.

A local resident walking along the beach early Thursday morning noticed the body and called 911.

The teens were last seen near the Pleasure Pier in Galveston on Sunday as they were swept away. After that, several law enforcement agencies joined the search. Peter Davis is the head of the Galveston Beach Patrol. He said that rip currents are responsible for 80% of rescue operations.

“The reason why people usually drown in the reverse current is they start trying to swim straight to shore,” Davis said. “Against the current, they panic, and then suffocate from the water and go under the water. Knowing this, all you have to do is swim and relax.”

The Galveston Beach Patrol advises those who are better swimmers to swim parallel to the shore and out of the surf in such cases.

“Once you hit the waves [again]they only break because the water is shallow,” Davis said. You can usually get up. And even if you can’t, the waves will push you back to shore.”

Davis said the number of cases of drowning in open water has decreased as the public gets more information on what to do when there is a danger in the water.

The Galveston Island Beach Patrol had previously received a call around 2 a.m. Tuesday, March 7 from someone who had spotted a body floating off the coastline. The body matched the description of one of two 13-year-old twin boys who went missing.

Davis said various organizations are working with the family to provide support after the tragic event.

“This is the story of the American Dream. The family came from Honduras, they worked for a couple of years to prepare, and only recently they were able to bring two twins from Honduras. A couple of months ago, as far as we understand,” Davis said.

Davis said the timing of the tragedy was particularly unfortunate because it happened over the weekend before the beach patrol began manning lifeguards in the lifeguard towers.

“We provide emergency response all year round, we have patrols all year round, but nothing is more effective than a tower lifeguard to keep people away from those piers where we always have backflow,” Davis said.