Search underway for missing swimmer near Oregon Inlet

The Coast Guard and state agencies searching Wednesday morning for a missing swimmer near Oregon Inlet. [Sam Walker photo]

A search is underway for a 60-year-old man who went missing while swimming near Oregon Inlet this morning.

Authorities got the call for a missing person at 9:17 a.m.

The man, a visitor from out of town, started his swim on a boogie board approximately three-quarters of a mile south of off-road vehicle ramp 4, the National Park Service said in a news release.

The boogie board was later found in the water between the remaining section of the Bonner Bridge and the Marc Basnight Bridge.

The U.S. Coast Guard, North Carolina Marine Patrol, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Cape Hatteras National Seashore rangers have all helped search for the individual.

A helicopter overhead aiding in the search for a missing swimmer near Oregon Inlet on Wednesday morning. [Sam Walker photo]

The National Weather Service issued a moderate risk of rip currents for the southern beaches of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands today.

So far this year, there have been two water-related fatalities along the Outer Banks. On May 26, a 68-year-old Blacksburg man suffered a cardiac emergency and died after being caught in a rip current in Southern Shores. And on June 10, a 53-year-old Ohio man died after possibly being caught in a rip current near Buxton.

There were five fatalities at the seashore in 2018, seven in 2017 and eight in 2016. Along the Outer Banks last year, a total of nine people lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean.

This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here.

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