South Bowers – Crews searching for two missing swimmers located two bodies in the MurderKill River Wednesday morning.
The two swimmers went missing sometime after 2:00 Tuesday afternoon. The two missing swimmers, both in their 20’s, entered the water in the area where the MurderKill River meets the Delaware Bay and immediately found themselves in trouble. Once in the water, the group totaling four swimmers, found themselves being pulled away from the shore by strong water currents. When this occurred, an individual onshore who observed the incident entered the water on two separate occasions and safely rescued two of the swimmers. The other two went missing.
The group was made up of a 21-year-old male from Philadelphia, a 20-year-old male from Tennessee, a 20-year-old female from Philadelphia, and a 20-year-old male from Philadelphia who traveled to the South Bowers Beach area.
Shortly after the swimmers went missing rescue crews from New Castle, Kent, and Sussex Counties along with Coast Guard crews, Delaware State Police Aviation’s Trooper 2, DNREC marine units, and a Maryland dive team responded to the area.
Crews searched for the missing swimmers into the night but had to suspend the search at around 9:00.
At around 9:00, Wednesday morning crews resumed the search for the two missing swimmers. At around 10:30 crews located the first body and within minutes the second body was located according to reports from the scene. The two swimmers have been turned over to the medical examiner’s office.
Officials are expected to hold a press conference shortly. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
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