KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. - A woman has died after going missing while swimming in Kill Devil Hills.
Kill Devil Hills Police responded to a report of a missing person on the beach near 1st Street just after midnight on Thursday.
Police learned a 31-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman, both Kill Devil Hills residents, were swimming in the ocean when they were hit by a sizable wave and went under the water.
After the man surfaced, he did not see his friend, the woman. He went to a nearby rental home and asked the residents to call 911.
Kill Devil Hills Police, the fire department and Ocean Rescue responded to the scene and started to search for the woman. The Coast Guard was notified but said they couldn't respond until later in the morning.
Around 5:45 a.m., officers with the Southern Shores Police Department responded to a body on the beach just north of Pelican Watch Way in Southern Shores.
Detectives from the Kills Devil Hills Police Department arrived on scene shortly thereafter and were able to identify the body as that of the woman who went missing near 1st Street in Kill Devil Hills.
Her identity will not be released until her next of kin have been notified.
Police say ocean conditions at the time of the incident were rough.
