SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — A water recovery operation has now been suspended until Wednesday in Schuylkill County.
"We probably had 15 divers in that water at the same time trying to locate this male," said Fire Chief Frank Zangari of the Ranger Hose Company.
Fire Chief Frank Zangari says the recovery of a 42-year-old male kayaker's body in Schuylkill County will have to wait after storms forced crews near Girardville to regroup.
He and others from neighboring fire departments, along with state police, worked for hours on Tuesday searching an old strip mining site in Butler Township after the victim's girlfriend found his kayak capsized.
Originally setting up a command area along the 700 block of East Main Street just after 2:00 p.m. for a water rescue, Zangari says crews were forced to switch gears after the man never resurfaced.
"They were up there with kayaks since early this morning," said Zangari. "They waited two hours to call 911 for some unknown reason. We really don't know yet. The whole thing is under investigation."
Covered in dense brush, first responders were forced to use an off-road trail to travel more than a quarter of a mile over this mountain to get to the scene where investigators say problems have been for years.
"As fire chief, this is my seventh rescue or recovery in that same stripping hole," said Zangari.
The longtime chief says the site has been known for decades as a local swimming spot since the strip mine closed some 60 years ago.
Following this recent tragedy, he hopes people stay away.
"It's a bottomless pit; nobody really knows how deep it is., said Zangari. "We've been unsuccessful after different times getting in the water, telling people, 'Don't swim there, the water's not clear.' People just don't listen."