One dead, one injured after boat capsizes in Oregon Inlet

DARE COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - One person is dead and another is injured after their boat capsized in the Oregon Inlet.

According to North Carolina Wildlife, Saturday afternoon, 50-year-old Francis Hennigan Jr. and 29-year-old Taylor Flannery were driving a 50-foot sportfishing boat from Cape May, New Jersey, to Florida and needed to stop in Beaufort for repairs to a damaged prop. 

While navigating the Oregon Inlet, officials say the boat capsized. The vessel was under power from three of the four engines when it capsized, officials say.

Both people were then thrown into the water without life jackets. Flannery, of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, was recovered by the U.S. Coast Guard and taken to Outer Banks Hospital with minor injuries. Hennigan, of Glenmoore, Pennsylvania, was found shortly afterward in the water, unresponsive, and was pronounced dead.

The incident is now being investigated by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.