Police have scaled back the search for a man who went missing while swimming at Wollongong's City Beach on the weekend.
Wollongong Police Superintendent Kyle Stewart stood down the search and rescue effort at midday, leaving the Bendigo Bank Aerial Patrol to continue its surveillance from the air.
Patrick Koffa, a 19-year-old Liberian refugee, vanished while swimming with friends on Sunday night.
Police: Shark may have taken man's bodyMr Stewart said the four-day search, from Sunday evening until this morning, had involved more than 100 people including police on land, sea and air, the Port Kembla Coast Guard, SES, Volunteer Rescue Association and Wollongong City lifeguards.
One line of inquiry is that a his body may have been taken by a shark.
At 11am this morning Mr Stewart, accompanied by Chief Inspector Graeme Donnelly, met with Mr Koffa's Blacktown-based family at City Beach and explained the situation.
"We've indicated to the family that it is quite probable their son has passed away having drowned on Sunday evening,'' Mr Stewart said.
"We told the family his body was at the mercy of the tidal currents and tidal flows of the ocean and it is simply now a process of time in terms of assessing whether we will be able to recover his body.''
Mr Stewart said that given the time that had passed, if Mr Koffa's body was to be located in the City Beach region, he was confident searchers would have done so by now.
Police will now present a report on Mr Koffa's disappearance to the NSW Coroner.
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