About seven or eight teens were swimming Tuesday at Sennett Hole, a wide spot on the Eno River about a mile east of North Roxboro Road, when they said he went under and didn't resurface.

"They were swimming and this person swam away from them," Durham Fire Acting Battalion Chief Scott King said early during the search effort. "They just lost sight of him."

The friends then called for help around 4:45 p.m.

"The initial response was to try and locate the body rapidly and try to do resuscitation," said Kevin Wilson Sr., the Durham County Emergency Medical Services education coordinator.

Wilson said the operation focused less on rescue and more on recovering Adams' body after the first 20 minutes.

Crews from EMS, the Durham, Lebanon and Bahama fire departments, Durham County Emergency Management, as well as the Durham County Sheriff's Office Dive Team searched the river Tuesday afternoon.

Three members were in a red inflatable boat. One man paddled to keep the boat in place while another man and a woman used long yellow poles to sweep the bottom of the river searching for Adams.

Another team donned wet suits and, with ropes tied from trees on the riverbank to an island, searched in the water by hand.

A third team searched the banks on the opposite side of the river. While the crews worked into the evening, Adams' friends returned to their cars, which they had parked at the corner of Wanda Ridge and Lochaven drives. A dirt path leads from the corner to the river, about a half-mile away.

One girl cried sporadically and the entire group appeared stressed, shaken and distraught. One of the boys declined to comment to The Herald-Sun. Around 7:15 p.m., a helicopter from the N.C. Highway Patrol joined the search. About 20 minutes later, Wilson notified the group that divers had discovered Adams' body. The water was more than 20 feet deep in the area where Adams was found, police said in the release.

A Southern High School official announced during a Durham school board meeting Tuesday night that a student at the school had drowned. Southern Principal Rod Teal could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. Durham police, who also had officers at the scene, are investigating the incident.