Crews found the body Thursday afternoon of a 16-year-old boy who went missing while tubing down the Delaware Wednesday morning.
Divers recovered the boy’s body from about eight feet of water near where he went missing, according to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony Kearns.
The boy -- later identified as Jamire Gist -- was pronounced dead on the scene around 2:55 p.m. and his family was notified a short time later, Kearns' office said.
The Hunterdon Democrat newspaper reports boat crews were called off the river early Thursday afternoon.
Emergency crews began searching the Delaware River just before 2 p.m. Wednesday. The boy disappeared near Treasure Island, a popular tubing spot by Kingwood Township and Frenchtown in Bucks County.
Severe weather forced authorities to temporarily suspend their search Wednesday. They got back in the water Thursday morning.
Authorities say the teen and five other people were tubing Wednesday morning when the 16-year-old boy became separated from his tube. He tried to swim upstream to retrieve it but disappeared underwater just before noon.
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A counselor waved down a bicyclist and used her phone to call 911.
"We are grateful to the volunteer rescue units that participated in this operation," Kearns said. "It is never easy for us when the operation switches from a rescue to a recovery, but these volunteers worked through it like professionals.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to the victim’s family in this time of sorrow."
