UPDATE: Body of missing swimmer found south of Salvo

The National Park Service said this morning that the body of a missing swimmer who was caught in a rip current on Sunday has been located.

Park officials said that a visitor reported finding the body at 7:36 a.m. just south of Ramp 23 in the Salvo area.

The victim, a 55-year-old visitor from Virginia, was pulled out to sea and went missing while swimming with friends off the Salvo beach in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore on Sunday morning.

Chicamacomico Banks Water Rescue and the United States Coast Guard responded quickly and searched until sundown on Sunday, but were unable to locate the swimmer.

The death is the sixth drowning this summer in the seashore.

Outer Banks Group Superintendent David Hallac said, “We extend our thoughts and condolences to his family and friends.”