A man in North Carolina who was trying to get away from the police by swimming in the seas, has ended up having to be rescued by them after being chased by a shark.

Zachary Kingsbury, 20, from Lynnwood, Washington, had been stopped by police on Wednesday 30 August in Surf City, North Carolina, after they had suspected that he was in possession of drugs.

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Police thought that he had drugs stashed inside his car, but instead of speaking to the authorities he decided to make a run for it and jumped into the Atlantic Ocean.

He managed to swim more than a mile out into the sea and was alone in the waters for several hours.

Police then used a drone to locate Kingsbury but they then discovered that he was in urgent need of a rescue after they spotted that he was being stalked by a shark.

It was at this point that the drone, which had been following for more than an hour, ran out of power.

A mass search then involved Pender EMS, the US Coast Guard, the Surf City Fire Department and the North Topsail Beach Police Department.

They eventually managed to convince the man to get aboard one of their boats and he was later arrested.