MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The family of a Robbinsdale man says he has gone missing after bodysurfing in Mexico on Tuesday.

The wife of Mark Stoneberg, 58, says that the two were on vacation in Sayulita, near Puerto Vallarta. Stoneberg was bodysurfing when he went missing at about 5 p.m.

Nancy Stoneberg, 47,  says that authorities in Mexico called off the search for the father of three after only a few hours, saying he was presumed drowned.

“I was told by Mexican officials they wait until a body comes into shore. And that’s not acceptable,” she said.

Stoneberg added: “It’s been horrible, from the moment it happened to the moment nobody would help.”

She thinks her husband could’ve survived being pulled out to sea by a riptide, because he was a former bodybuilder.

Stoneberg said she requested “urgent action … to put some pressure on the Mexican authorities to continue the search.”

That request appears to have paid off.

“We went from having no response to a tent being put up on the beach with police and rescue people — a lot more activity,” Stoneberg said.

She said she’s been told a Mexican navy search and rescue team has been deployed to search for her husband. Divers have already been deployed, and planes are also on the way.

“We’ve been assured that they will continue searching,” Stoneberg said.