A teenage boy has died after first responders found him submerged in Stoney Creek in Pasadena, Maryland, on Saturday afternoon.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department got a call just after 3:30 p.m. Saturday of a child in the water near the community pier on Bay Drive in the Riviera Beach area. They responded and discovered that a 16-year-old boy had gone into the water and not resurfaced. A witness said he may have jumped from the pier.
Anne Arundel County Fire sent all of their marine resources for the search, including rescue boats and their dive team. Maryland Natural Resources Police, the Coast Guard, Baltimore City Fire Department, and the volunteer Marine Emergency Team 26 all responded as well.
Divers began searching the area and Marine Emergency Team 26 helped with sonar scans of the area. Anne Arundel County Fire Department divers located the teen in the water. Lieutenant Jenny McCallair says he had been underwater for 60-90 minutes. The water temperature was reported at 57 degrees, with some monitored areas measuring warmer.
Despite the length of time the victim was submerged, emergency responders started resuscitation efforts. McCallair tells us that when a water rescue victim has been submerged in colder water, policy states that crews immediately start resuscitation. That’s because some studies show that patients, especially children, can survive longer in cold water as the cool temperature may delay brain damage.
Unfortunately, despite attempts to resuscitate the boy on the scene and transport him to the hospital, he was later pronounced dead.
The fire department is not identifying the young man. McCallair says the reason he never resurfaced is unknown, but first responders noted that the water depth in that area drops from 4 feet to 12 feet very quickly. Other community members say there is known to be underwater debris in that area of Stoney Creek, and that the mud bottom is very thick, making it easy to get stuck.
The tragedy comes just ten months after another teenager drowned in Stoney Creek. As Chesapeake Bay Magazine reported in June 2024, Pablo Guevara, 17, was swimming with family members at the Elizabeth Landing boat ramp on the creek around 8:30 at night but he didn’t return to shore with the others. After first responders searched through the night amid thunderstorms, Guevara’s body was found the next afternoon. The mud bottom may have been a factor in his drowning.
The Anne Arundel County Fire Department says when you are swimming in any Chesapeake Bay waterway, make sure you know the water conditions you’re going to encounter. Water depth and conditions can vary widely from place to place, and from the status of the tides.
