Rip currents on North Carolina coast kill 4 people in 10 days
Four people have died after being caught in rip currents along a section of the North Carolina coast over the past 10 days.
The deaths include two teenage boys, a 21-year-old man who was trying to help his friends and a 56-year-old man who tried to rescue two teenage girls.
Justin Eakes, 21, died Monday morning, CBS Greenville affiliate WNCT-TV reports. On Sunday, he had almost made it out of the water in Atlantic Beach when he turned around to help his friends, his friend Brian Kelly told the station.
"It's dangerous," Kelly said. "We really all believed that we were going to lose our lives. We said goodbye to all the things we loved, and it's just a sad thing that the one person out of all of us was Justin."
A 16-year-old boy who was caught in a rip current in nearby Emerald Isle also died on Monday. Tyreese Worsley, 16, and Elijah Hinnant, 17, were swept away on June 10.
Tyreese was rescued by a surfer and rescue crews and had been receiving treatment at a hospital, WNCT-TV reports. Elijah's body was recovered June 13 after crews responded to an unidentified object about 1,500 meters offshore.
Multiple media organizations reported a 56-year-old man ran into the surf at Atlantic Beach on Saturday after hearing two teenage girls screaming. WNCT-TV reports he went into cardiac arrest in the fast-moving water and drowned.
The two girls were rescued, and one was treated at a hospital.