THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 29, 1996 TAG: 9606290242
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
DATELINE: DUCK LENGTH: 24 lines
The body of a 14-year-old boy who was pulled out to sea was found Friday about four-tenths of a mile south of where he disappeared into the Atlantic, Lifeguard Beach Services President Bob Gabriel said.
The 5-foot, 8-inch youth, whose name has not been released, was vacationing with a group from the Bethesda, Md., Baptist Home for Children and Families.
The boy and two adults were standing in waist-deep water on an unguarded beach in Duck when a flash rip current suddenly raised the water level and pulled the youth out to sea, Gabriel said Thursday.
The nearest lifeguard to Wednesday's accident - which was the first Outer Banks drowning of the season - was about a half-mile away, Gabriel said.
Tell-tale signs of rip currents, which are formed when water breaks through a near-shore sandbar and rushes out to sea in a narrow path, include a noticeable difference in water color in one area, gaps in the breakers or different size waves at the near-shore sandbar, foam or objects moving steadily seaward, and an offshore plume of water past the sandbars.
KEYWORDS: DROWNING by CNB