Boat capsizes, throwing 4 people and a dog into ocean inlet, NC rescuers say

Four people and a dog were left adrift in a treacherous ocean inlet when their boat capsized off Oak Island on the North Carolina coast, according to searchers.

It happened shortly after 2 p.m. Monday in the Lockwoods Folly Inlet, and drone video shows the boat was left upside down and being carried by the current.

“Crews arrived to find two boaters ... and one dog having been safely picked up by a passing civilian boat,” the Town of Oak Island reported in a May 18 Facebook post.

“Using a rescue watercraft and the town’s new Mobile Drone Control Unit, the Town’s Ocean Rescue Division was able to locate and rescue the two boaters still in the water. At the same time, crews from Oak Island Water Rescue were able to make contact with the civilian boat and retrieve the two other boaters and the dog.”

The boaters and dog were carried to shore and treated for “minor and/or non-life-threatening injuries” by Brunswick County EMS, the town reported.

Their identities were not released.

The 19-foot Carolina Skiff eventually became lodged in a sandbar, and was listed as a navigational hazard, town officials said. It has the potential to become dislodged and could drift into the path of passing boats, or could wash ashore, officials said. It will be “professionally retrieved,” the town said.

Oak Island is about 205-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh, and the Lockwoods Folly Inlet is at the west end of the island.

This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 6:45 AM.