4-year-old boy is swept out to sea

A 4-year-old boy was walking with his mother in shallow waters on a beach in Kitty Hawk, N.C., on Wednesday afternoon when a wave came crashing onto shore with ferocity.



The current knocked the family off their feet, ripping the young boy away from his mother and carrying him out to sea. Scouring the water for her son as another wave rushed in, the mother “lost sight of him in the surf,” U.S. Coast Guard officials said. He was gone.

At about 4 p.m., Coast Guard, police and fire authorities launched a search for the missing boy, who had reportedly been visiting with his family on vacation from their home in Manchester, N.H., police officials told the New Hampshire Union Leader.