A recovery operation is underway in the waters off of Spring Lake for a 15-year-old boy who went missing Sunday afternoon.

According to the Spring Lake Police Chief Edward Kerr, two siblings appeared to be in distress in the water around 2:45 p.m. A person who knew the siblings went into the ocean to help and lifeguards followed.

Kerr says they were able to get the person who ran into the water to help and one of the siblings to safety, but the 15-year-old boy slipped under the water at the Newark Avenue Beach.

"Lifeguards did attempt to go back out and could not find the subject who was possibly pulled out in a riptide near the jetty," he says.

Officials say they transitioned from a rescue operation to a recovery operation because the teen has been missing for several hours.

Spring Lake police say the 15-year-old boy's name is Josiah Jeremiah Robison, of Ewing.