By VDC staff

Police have not yet identified a drowning victim pulled from the Lamoille River in Fairfax Thursday evening.

Shortly after 7:15 p.m. Thursday, crews from Colchester Technical Rescue located the body of a man in the Lamoille River in Fairfax where a swimmer had been reported missing earlier in the evening, State Police said.

Preliminary reports indicated a man and a child were swimming in the river when the man began to struggle in the water. A neighbor launched a kayak and helped the child to shore, but the man did not resurface.

The body was recovered and brought to shore. The victim will be transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death. The man’s identity will be withheld pending notification of relatives. No one else was injured in this incident.

This is a different incident from the suspected drowning in Lake Arrowhead in Milton.

The Vermont State Police has responded to three suspected drowning incidents in the past 24 hours. VSP reminds the public that state waterways are running high and have strong currents following recent thunderstorms and rainy weather. People should be mindful of conditions and take precautions before entering any body of water, including checking water levels, flow rates, weather forecasts and the potential for underwater obstacles; using a buddy system; and always swimming sober.