MATTAWAMKEAG, Maine — Law enforcement personnel from the region are searching for a 9-year-old girl who went swimming Friday evening near Mattawamkeag Wilderness Campground and Park and is now missing, a Penobscot Regional Communications Center dispatcher confirmed late Friday.
“They’re out looking for a female who was swimming in the river,” the dispatcher said about 8:30 p.m..
The search for the girl began around 6:30 p.m. and includes a Maine Warden Service search plane, Mattawamkeag Fire Department and others, the dispatcher said.
Members of the Down East Emergency Medicine Institute, an Orono-based volunteer search-and-rescue group, are assisting in the search, according to Richard Bowie, DEEMI operations director.
Park Manager Carlton Norris said the girl, her parents and a younger sibling went swimming in Sleugundy Heater Gorge, which is located about 1.5 miles south of the town-owned camping area.
An incident command station has been set up along Mattawamkeag Wilderness Park Road, which is the road leading to the camp.
Norris said the search was called off around 9 p.m. because of nightfall but searchers plan to resume Saturday morning.
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