Swimmer’s body found following Hunting Island drowning

The body of an Allendale man who disappeared while swimming has been found.

The body of 31-year-old Joseph Scott was found early Monday by members of the South Carolina State Park Service. He disappeared Saturday afternoon at Hunting Island, a state park in Beaufort County.  The Beaufort Gazette reports that Scott was swimming a few hundred yards offshore with friends when he went under.

Members of Scott’s family said that Scott was a capable swimmer. Officials say he was likely pulled under by a strong rip current. Earlier Saturday, five other people had to be saved from the waters at Hunting Island. Firefighters rescued a small boy and his father and another couple. At the same time, they saved a woman who was an acquaintance of Scott’s who saw him go under and was trying to help him.

Rescue crews from the U.S. Coast Guard and several local agencies searched for Scott until midnight Saturday and continued the search Sunday and Monday, when they finally found him. His body was sent to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for an autopsy.