Following the incredibly sad news of Jean Da Silva’s passing yesterday, the surf world once again woke this morning to find that it had lost a key member of the international community.

Mexican big wave charger Oscar Moncada reportedly passed away, along with friends and fellow Oaxaca locals Diego Oropeza and Waldo Rendon after a van hit their car on Saturday night.

Moncada was a local legend out at Puerto Escondido, frequently wowing the assembled crowds in the free surfs and earning himself a place in the BWT world tour event earlier this year, where he finished ninth. Oropeza too was well known for his stand out performances at the break. The entire Big Wave community has come united in sadness and praise of the pair and all that they achieved.

“I can’t imagine Zicatela without these two chargers in the lineup,” wrote Big wave world tour presenter Shanon Quirk on instagram “Diego and his family helped make the Puerto Escondido Challenge a success, providing housing and transportation for all our competitors. He even wrote a book in University to plan towards sustainable tourism and development in Puerto to help the community. They both had such big hearts, and the surf community is mourning today. One of the last things Oscar posted on Instagram was ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’… to think that after all the big and dangerous waves these guys took off on and survived… I’ll take this loss as a reminder to live life to the fullest and charge hard like they always did.”

Oscar’s final Instagram post was a heartfelt tribute to friend Jean Da Silva, adding a cruel twist to what has been a heartbreaking weekend for the international surf community. Our deepest sympathies go out to all those effected by these tragedies.

Cover Photo Edwin Morales // WSL