Killer waves, shark encounters for tourists along popular US beaches
A North Carolina family on Monday was grieving the loss of their father after he was killed by a rogue wave this weekend in Oak Island, North Carolina.
Lee Dingle, 37, of Raleigh was apparently playing in shallow waters with his children Friday when the killer wave slammed him into the sand, snapping his neck.
Family members describe a tragic scene on the beach with his children joining beachgoers trying to save the father of six, but add his body couldn’t recover from the initial injury.
The horrific accident comes a little more than a year after a 4-year old boy was swept away by a rogue wave on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Wesley Belisle was on vacation from New Hampshire in April 2018 when was walking with his mother along the beach. He was knocked down by a wave which dragged him into the ocean. HIs body was found nearly a week later.
The tragedies come as North Carolina saw a spike of three shark attacks this June. That's apparently the total number of shark attacks in North Carolina for all of 2018.
One of the encounters ended with a father beating off a shark attacking his 17-year old daughter in Atlantic Beach, who survived but had to have part of her leg amputated.
Researchers say though attacks are extremely rare, many of the species on the ocean side of North Carolina's barrier islands are large and very dangerous.
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Coastal tourism in North Carolina is a reported $3 billion industry.
Ocean waves on the beach at a summer resort, the surf at the Outer Banks in Nag's Head, North Carolina, NC, USA.
Further up the Atlantic coastline Saturday, a family came face to face with what is believed to be a great white shark off Cape Cod, and it was all captured on video.
The International Shark Attack File says North Carolina ranks fifth in the country for shark attacks behind South Carolina, Florida, California and Hawaii.