CLEVELAND — Two Coast Guard rescue boats and a helicopter pressed their search this afternoon for a young woman missing since Thursday night after she and friends aboard a boat decided to go swimming in Lake Erie.

“We’re still searching for her at this time, and we’re still holding onto the hope that she will be found,” said Chief Petty Officer Kyle Niemi of the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District offices in Cleveland.

The missing woman has been identified as Emma Nahas, who is either 20 or 21 years of age, according to information released today by the Coast Guard. The woman was wearing an orange bathing suit but was not believed to be wearing a life jacket.

The woman’s hometown could not be confirmed by Coast Guard personnel, who said family members were there awaiting word from the search.

The Cleveland Coast Guard station began to search fore the woman after Cleveland Police notified the station about 8:30 last night after they received a 911 call.

“We immediately launched a Coast Guard rescue boat crew from Cleveland Harbor and a rescue helicopter from Detroit,” Niemi said.

Nahas is one of 10 people who were reported to be aboard a 24-foot recreational vessel. A number of people aboard the boat reportedly decided to go swimming, but that information could not be verified by the Coast Guard.

The group did not discover the woman was missing from the boat until they returned to port. The craft was said to be two to three miles out in Lake Erie north of 55th Street at the time Nahas went missing.

A 41-foot utility boat launched by the Coast Guard last night to search for Nahas was relieved by a 25-foot boat and crew about 4:45 a.m. today. That second vessel was joined by a second boat and crew this morning.

A Coast Guard Dolphin rescue helicopter from Air Station Detroit was forced to return to Detroit after its crew reached fatigue limits, but a second Dolphin crew and aircraft arrived at Cleveland this morning to take up the search, according to a release issued by the Cleveland station.

Coast Guard crews were assisted in their initial search efforts Thursday night by search boats and crews provided by Cleveland police and the Cleveland Fire Department.

A boat and crew from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources joined the search Friday morning, according to Niemi.