A 20-year-old man was swept away by a gigantic wave while posing for vacation photos – which was captured by his friends who stood by helplessly.

Roni Josua Simanjuntak was visiting the Indonesian coast with a group of friends on Sunday when he decided to try and get a picture of waves crashing along the craggy coast of Kedung Tumpang Beach in East Java, according to the Mirror.

The water was initially calm and some of Roni’s pals were swimming off the coast’s massive rocks. But the placid waters soon turned volatile.

Video posted to social media of the horrifying incident shows the moment Roni was enveloped by a massive wave and pulled out into the Indian Ocean.

In the video, Roni can be seen holding his arms above his head on the precipice of a massive rock formation – his group of friends standing further away at a safe distance from the water.

The wave can be seen swelling behind Roni who is completely unsuspecting. The force of the water knocks Roni forward onto his hands and knees and he apparently slips down the rockface and into the rough waters.

Witnesses can be heard laughing as he was knocked off his feet – but those laughs stopped when they realized that Roni was nowhere to be seen.

Towards the end of the video posted by Mak Lambe Turah the cameraperson zooms in on something floating in the water and being pulled from the coast and into the ocean. Onlookers apparently believed that was Roni’s body.

Authorities were still searching Wednesday but said they will call off the operation if he is not found by Sunday.

“The waves have been between 6.5 and 14 feet in height,” said a spokesperson for the National Search and Rescue Agency of Indonesia, “Creating a huge obstacle for our team.”

Roni is still considered missing.