A Virginia rabbi has gone missing after jumping into the ocean to save a student who struggled to make it back to shore, according to reports.

The Coast Guard searched for 35-year-old Reuven Bauman, a teacher at Yeshiva Toras Chaim in Norfolk, who was last seen at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when he rescued the 11-year-old, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The child, who was at False Cape State Park with about 20 other people, was reported to be safe.

“He acted heroically,” Coast Guard Lt. Steve Arguelles said about Bauman.

Arguelles said the search was suspended about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“It’s always a hard decision, and it’s not one we make lightly,” he told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper.

The Coast Guard searched about 347 square nautical miles, or about 459 square miles, Arguelles added.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and a 45-foot boat from Coast Guard Station Little Creek searched on Tuesday.

Members of the Virginia Beach fire and police departments also assisted in the search.

On Tuesday, the water was reported to be choppy with rip currents, and lifeguards had raised a red flag, which means swimming was prohibited.

Bauman is listed on the school’s website as teaching seventh- and eighth-grade secular studies and third-grade Judaic studies.