ISLAND FALLS, Maine — A man and a boy drowned Friday while swimming in the West Branch of the Mattawamkeag River in Island Falls, according to the Maine Warden Service.
Jamie Main, 49, of Crystal and Kobe Berry, 13, of Bangor went swimming in the river Friday afternoon and drowned when Main tried to help Berry out of a current, Maine Warden Service spokesman Cpl. John MacDonald said in a news release late Friday night.
After calls from witnesses who said they saw the two go underwater, Maine Game Wardens, Island Falls Fire Department and Maine State Police went to the scene at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Witnesses told authorities they saw a youth struggling in the current near the middle of the river and that the adult swam to him when both became submerged.
The authorities conducted a search with watercraft, aircraft and on foot along the river. Main’s body was recovered 6 p.m Friday, and Berry’s at 8 p.m., according to MacDonald.
