Police ID Swimmer Whose Body Was Pulled from Farmington River

Rescuers have recovered the body of a swimmer missing in the Farmington River.

Police said the swimmer, 22-year-old Michael Omagbon, of Waterbury, went underwater around 5 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Tunxis Meade Park in Farmington.

A state police K-9 helped narrow the search area with help from a helicopter overhead. Police said they used sonar to pinpoint the swimmer's location and pulled his body from the river around 8:30 p.m.

"As you know, the river is very unpredictable. There are a lot of currents, varying depths. It's typically very dangerous to swim in the river," said Lt. Patrick Buckley of the Farmington Police Department. "So he wasn't exactly where he was last seen, but it was in the general area, probably within 100 yards or so."

Police said Omagbon was swimming with a group of four or five people when something went wrong.

"They were just swimming, and it appeared at some point that he was in some type of distress," Buckley said. "They tried to offer some type of assistance at at some point, he just kind of disappeared from the surface."

A medical examiner was called to determine the cause of Omagbon's death. Police said they do not believe alcohol was involved.

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