4-Year-Old Swept Out to Sea While Walking With Mother On Outer Banks

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Officials say that a 4-year-old boy who was walking on the beach with his mother on the Outer Banks was hit by a wave and swept out to sea on Wednesday. 

The child still had not been found.

The boy and his mother were walking on the beach in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, late on Wednesday afternoon when a wave hit the child, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. His mother “lost sight of him in the surf.”

The Coast Guard responded at about 4 p.m. and searched for the boy by helicopter and by boat. 

They searched 130 square nautical miles for hours but they still couldn’t find him. At 8:30 p.m., they suspended their search.

“Your OBX family is praying for you!” 

Locals laying shells in the shape of a heart on beach where 4yo boy was swept away into the water yesterday in #KittyHawk. @WAVY_Newspic.twitter.com/PgSDVWn86q

— Joe Fisher (@JoeFisherTV) April 26, 2018

.#Chesapeake man is using power paraglider to search from above for 4yo boy in #KittyHawk. @WAVY_Newspic.twitter.com/HCJrD6xRxH

— Joe Fisher (@JoeFisherTV) April 26, 2018

Some Locals went to the beach to see if they could help, WAVY-TV reported.

A man who lives in Chesapeake, Virginia, about 70 miles north, took his powered paraglider down to the beach in order to search for the boy.

“It was on my mind when I went to bed, and it was on my mind when I woke up, so I was like, why not?” Jonathan Jernigan told WAVY.

Neighbors laid out seashells in the shape of a heart on the beach and said they were sending their love to the family.

“I don’t think there’s anybody here that’s not praying for them,” Lily Davis told WAVY.

Monica Wilkerson said that she spoke to the ocean.

“I was out there saying, ‘Just give him back.’ Even if it’s just to say goodbye,” she said through tears.

The Kitty Hawk Police Department, which assisted in the search, sent their condolences to the family.

“As parents, this is our worst nightmare, even for those of us who love and have grown up by the ocean,” the department said on Facebook. “Please join us in thought and prayer for this family as we mourn with them the loss and give thanks for the well-being of our own children”

Neither the Coast Guard nor the police department have indicated the child’s name.