Body found in Scheveningen; hopes that it's missing surfer

A body was found at the Noordelijk Havenhoofd in Scheveningen on Thursday morning. Whether it is 23-year-old Matthijs, one of five water sports enthusiasts who drowned off the coast of Scheveningen last month, is not yet clear.

The young man from Delft was among a group of swimmers and surfers who went into the North Sea in Scheveningen on May 11 and got into trouble at around 6:54 p.m. A total of seven people were taken out of the water that evening. Two men from The Hague later died, despite emergency workers' attempts to resuscitate them. They were 30 and 38 years old. A 40-year-old man had to be hospitalized.

The next day, the bodies of a 24-year-old man from The Hague and a 22-year-old man from Delft were recovered. Matthijs' body was spotted, but could not be recovered. In the weeks that followed, rescue workers continued to search for his body, also making use of drones, but to no avail. 

The police are working to identify the body. On social media many expressed the hope that it is Matthijs, so that his family and friends can get closure.