The body of a 15-year-old boy has been recovered days after he went missing while swimming with his family Thursday night in Westerly, Rhode Island.
Westerly's police chief told NBC10 Boston affiliate WJAR that the teen's body was found in the area of Wawaloam Drive just before 6 p.m. Sunday.
The search for Jaimer Ico Gregorio, of New London, Connecticut, began Thursday night at Dunes Park Beach in Westerly. WJAR reported he was swimming after hours with a group of 12 people to the right of a jetty around 7 p.m. when he went under the water and never resurfaced. There were no lifeguards on duty at the time.
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Officials told WJAR they had received a call for a reported drowning at 7:15 p.m. and responded to the beach. A subsequent search was launched, but recovery efforts had slowed by Friday at which point the Coast Guard said it was highly unlikely the boy would be found alive.
Misquamicut Fire Chief Todd Findeisen told WJAR on Friday that it would become more of a localized departmental search.
Avery Rindell, of Westerly, lives down the street from Dunes Park Beach, and said he was thinking twice about swimming in the area.
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“I have a 15-year-old brother, so it’s really scary to think, like, we always go swimming in these waters, like, literally every day. So, it’s like no one knows when it’s going to happen,” Rindell told WJAR.
According to WJAR, the Weekapaug Breachway drains and fills a large pond along Atlantic Avenue. The tide rushing though the channel and rip currents in the surf can make swimming in the area dangerous.
There have been several drownings in Rhode Island this month, including a 39-year-old man who tried to rescue two young swimmers in Narragansett and a 28-year-old woman who was out for a late night swim with her boyfriend Conimicut Point.
