Body possibly belonging to San Jose teen pulled from San Joaquin River

The 15-year-old boy vanished while retrieving a ball from the water Sunday afternoon in Firebaugh.

FIREBAUGH, Calif. – Authorities on Monday pulled a body from the San Joaquin River in Firebaugh.

The person’s identity has not been confirmed, but he matches the description of a 15-year-old San Jose boy who vanished a day earlier, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Deputies were dispatched to the river, near 11th and Q streets in Firebaugh, around 4:30 p.m. Sunday for a report of a possible drowning, according to the sheriff’s office. The boy, who was visiting family in the area, vanished while retrieving a ball from the river.

“Once in the water, he never resurfaced,” the sheriff’s office said.

The boy did not know how to swim and was not wearing a life jacket, according to the sheriff’s office.

The search was called off due to darkness and resumed Monday morning. Around 2 p.m., members of the sheriff’s dive unit recovered the body from the bottom of the river.

The death marked the eighth drowning of the year in Fresno County. Three have happened in the river, two in ponds, one in Shaver Lake, one in Millerton Lake and one in a canal.

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