UPDATE 5:40PM: Dozens of volunteers from various organizations from NY, NJ and Baltimore have all joined the search in Virginia.

Joining Achiezer and Haztzolah Air who have been searching all day, are volunteers from Misaskim of Baltimore and Baltimore Shomrim who have arrived with boats. Hatzolah members from NY are on the scene as well. One group of volunteers arrived from Toms River, NJ, with a few jet skis.

There are around 8 aircraft searching the waters, including airplanes and helicopters.

Jet skis and boats are working from the water, and volunteers are walking the shorelines, in hopes of finding Rabbi Reuven Bauman.

“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.

Despite the Coast Guard suspending their search, the Virginia Beach Fire Department and the Virginia Marine Police are continuing their search.

UPDATE 12:30PM: Local media in Virginia are reporting that the U.S. Coast Guard has suspended search efforts on Wednesday at noon. YWN sources on the ground report that despite that report, there are still U.S. Coast Guard cutters in the water searching.

Virginia Beach Fire Department and the Virginia Marine Police are continuing their search, as police boats are currently in the water and a chopper is scanning the shorelines.

Misaskim and Shomrim from Baltimore are enroute, and are making their way to Virginia along with a boat to assist in searching the water.

COMMSAR from NY have joined the search as well. The Virginia Beach Police Department is out in vessels combing through the water. Hatzolah Air also has an airplane searching from above. The rangers will also be going up and down the shoreline with ATV’s every few hours in the hope that a clue washes up. There are many dolphins in the area, which forces searchers to discern between true and false sightings. The search area is bordered on the south by a heavily populated beach in North Carolina, which allows us to confine the search effort, as any activity there will be noted by the public.

The US Fish and Wildlife has jurisdiction over the search area as it is a national wildlife refuge. As per the park rangers request, any responding agency should sign in at the COMMSAR command center to ensure safety and efficiency. No additional civil volunteers are needed at this point.

The search is continuing Wednesday morning for Rabbi Reuven Tzvi ben Esther Baila Bauman, who went missing in the waters at a Virginian beach on Tuesday.

PLEASE NOTE: Throughout the day, YWN is updating this developing tragedy on our WhatsApp status. Click this link – or send a message to 1-888-4-YW-NEWS (888-499-6397) – to see our status posts.

As YWN has been reporting, Rabbi Bauman, 35-years-old, was at the beach at False Cape State Park with around 20 campers from a local day camp when a 13-year-old student was caught in a sudden rip current. Rabbi Bauman immediately entered the water to save the boy who was able to make it out of the water. Unfortunately, Rabbi Bauman was swept out to sea and has not been seen since.

Rabbi Reuven Bauman is a Rebbi at Yeshiva Toras Chaim in Norfolk Virginia.

Emergency personnel from various organizations in the new York area are on the scene, and others are in the process of deploying.

The Achiezer Organization is working with the Coast Guard, and coordinating the search efforts. An aircraft from Hatzolah Air, along with specially trained search and rescue personnel have arrived and are currently overhead scanning the waters and shorelines. Rockland Chaveirim are in the process of deploying a specialized team with sonar – used for searching underwater.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C. and a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Little Creek are currently searching for the man. Crews from the Virginia Beach Fire Department and the Virginia Marine Police are also assisting with the search.

Text messages have been going around asking for volunteers, but search coordinators tell YWN that besides for a volunteers from Norfolk, as of this time they do not want any other volunteers walking the shoreline – as the entire beach is not a safe area. Only people who are on boats and in the air [and authorized to join the search] should be coming.

A Charidy campaign has been set up for the family.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)