30-year-old man drowns near family picnic area while attempting to swim across river
A 30-year-old man has drowned in Pennsylvania near a family picnic area while attempting to swim across the river and went under, officials said.
The emergency communications center at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, received a report of a drowning in the Delaware River near the Kittatinny Point picnic area at about 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a statement from the National Park Service.
National Park Service rangers and dive team members, New Jersey State Police and water rescue teams from the Portland Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call, officials said, and the crews “quickly located and recovered the body of a 30-year-old Parsipanny, New Jersey, man from the river, where the water was approximately 17 feet deep.”
“The man was swimming with family members near the picnic area when he tired while attempting to swim across the river and went under,” NPS said.
Authorities have not yet named the man and it is unclear what the swimming conditions were like at the time of the drowning, but the National Park Service took the opportunity to remind all river users to wear a properly-fitted, U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket while swimming, floating, fishing or boating on the Delaware River.
