North Carolina

Man pulled from ocean at North Carolina beach dies days later

EMERALD ISLE, N.C. — Police say a man rescued from the ocean on the North Carolina coast last weekend has died.

Emerald Isle police confirmed on their Facebook page that 48-year-old Robert Ray Patterson of Jacksonville died on Tuesday.

[ALSO READ: Man, boy dead after getting caught in Atlantic Beach rip current].

Officials say Patterson had apparently been carried out by rip currents with other swimmers on Sunday. Three of those swimmers were pulled ashore by surfers, while Patterson was taken to a nearby hospital.

Patterson is the sixth person to drown on Carteret County beaches in 2019. Of the total, four have occurred in Emerald Isle, and the other two drowned at Atlantic Beach.