Father drowns at Hunting Island in attempt to save his kids on July 4 holiday
A North Carolina father drowned at Hunting Island State Park on July 4 while trying to save his 4-year-old son from what officials called a rip current, becoming the third visitor who died in Beaufort County waters in five days.
Coroner’s staff identified the man as 38-year-old Paul Peters of Indian Trail, N.C., who was pronounced dead around 12:10 p.m. Friday after beachgoers and first responders attempted CPR on the shoreline.
The incident continued an alarming trend of tourists’ drowning deaths in the early days of the busy summer season around Hilton Head Island. On June 30, a 69-year-old Georgia man drowned near Hilton Head’s Coligny Beach Park. The following day, a 65-year-old photographer from Decatur was pulled from the surf at Hunting Island and pronounced dead of drowning.
Witnesses of the July 4 drowning said Peters had been in the surf around 11:30 a.m. Friday with his young children, aged 4 and 7. When Peters realized he and his 4-year-old had been pulled into deeper waters by a strong current, he held his youngest son above the water “while struggling to breathe,” according to an incident report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
One man who quickly swam to the family’s rescue, Jamie Ray Johnson, told police he “had to make a decision” when he saw Peters sink below the waves. He grabbed the 4-year-old boy, he said, keeping the child afloat while the current continued to pull them away. Other witnesses tossed a line into the water and pulled Johnson and the boy ashore, the police report said.
After the man’s 4-year-old son coughed out the water he swallowed and was able to breathe, The Island News reported, the first thing he asked was, “Where’s my dad?”
The boy was taken to the hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Peters’ older son “was not deep in the water like his brother” at the time of the incident, another witness told sheriff’s deputies. The 7-year-old boy was “brought to shore very quickly” and did not require life-saving measures, according to the report.
Deputies arrived just after 11:30 a.m. Friday to find a number of witnesses “actively performing CPR” on Peters, whose body was losing color. He was rushed from the beach to an ambulance and was pronounced dead shortly after.
The Sheriff’s Office called the latest drowning “another reminder of the dangers of rip currents,” urging locals and visitors to “protect yourself and your loved ones” by following water safety guidelines, checking surf zone forecast maps and viewing live water conditions from Hilton Head beach patrol.
Red flags were flying at Hunting Island’s beach access points on Friday, signaling highly hazardous water conditions due to high surf, strong currents or sharks or lightning seen in the area. Under red flags, beachgoers are discouraged from swimming and sometimes limited to waist-deep water.
Beaufort County shorelines carried a moderate risk for rip currents throughout the day Friday, according to meteorologist-in-charge Brian Haines of the National Weather Service’s Charleston office. That weather advisory means “life-threatening rip currents are possible,” he said, adding that the approaching Tropical Storm Chantal undoubtedly contributed to the area’s rough surf over the weekend.
“Whenever you have a (tropical system) developing, you always see some ocean swell,” Haines said.
Despite being South Carolina’s most popular state park, Hunting Island does not provide lifeguards on its 5 miles of public beaches. The park’s estimated 1 million visitors per year are asked to swim at their own risk.
This story was originally published July 7, 2025 at 12:16 PM.
