Missing Teen Presumed Drowned

NATIONAL PARK, N.J. - August 30, 2007 (WPVI) -- Search crews returned to the Delaware River looking for a teenager who apparently drowned while trying to help some stranded friends.

About 100 people joined the effort of what is now being called a recovery effort for the body of 17-year-old Ryan Lewis.

Marine search and rescue teams dragged the Delaware River off National Park for most of the day. Four divers were also sent in during low tide.

At 9:00 Wednesday night, friends, whose boat ran aground during low tide off what locals call No Name Island, called Lewis. Wanting to help, Lewis went into the river to try to reach the boat. He went under a couple hundred feet off shore near the Red Bank Battlefield in National Park.

Lewis was the oldest of 4 children. He graduated from West Deptford High School last June. The school newspaper ran an article about how he was the strong link between his hearing impaired parents and the hearing world

Ryan's aunt told Action News that she wants people know he was a very good kid. Clearly it was Ryan's desire to help friends that cost him his life just two weeks before his 18th birthday.

(Copyright 2007 by ABC News. All Rights Reserved.)

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•