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By Lookout Staff

July 21 -- The body of Santa Monica High School teacher Joey Lutz washed ashore on a Panamanian beach Sunday, three days after a wave swept him out to sea. ("Samohi Teacher Missing off Panama Coast," July 19, 2008)

Lutz’s body was found by a fisherman on a beach in the Bocas del Toro islands in northern Panama, where Lutz had been vacationing, family memebers said.

Lutz’s family had called on the U.S. government to intensify its search for Lutz after the 25-year-old English teacher, who was standing in shallow water, was swept away by a wave and carried out to sea by a riptide, said his mother Freda Lutz.

Lutz's father, Stuart, and his brother traveled to Panama Saturday to aid in the search. Stuart Lutz identified the body of his son Sunday.

Santa Monica High School will provide grief counseling Monday, school officials said.

Bocas del Toro is an group of remote islands on the northwestern coast of Panama only recently discovered by international travelers, according to the web site worldheadquarters.com.