METHUEN, Mass. — It was a sparkling spring day along the Merrimack River, but that brought no solace to a Lowell family waiting for their personal horror to end.
Last Saturday, four-year-old Azriel Lopez-Fontanez was swept into the churning waters of the Merrimack while fishing with his mother in Lowell. The boy has not been seen since.
Wednesday morning, divers and other first responders focused their efforts on a stretch of the Merrimack miles from where Lopez-Fontanez fell in -- following a tip that something colorful had been found along the shore near the Duck Island wastewater treatment plant.
That search turned up nothing.
“They did a really good job trying to find the body today,” said family friend Nathanael Vargas. “We’re still not giving up.”
Vargas, dressed in rubber waders and boots, is helping with a family effort to find the boy. He said they’ve combed the shoreline from Lawrence to Lowell -- and now have plans to extend the search area to Andover.
“Our theory is the body could have gases, so it could float a little bit,” he said. “We’re concluding it probably could have drifted towards the shoreline.”
Vargas correctly describes what happens to drowning victims days after sinking to the bottom. The process of putrefaction -- or tissue decay -- releases gases that can cause bodies to rise to the surface.
This normally happens in a day or two in warm conditions. But it may take longer or never happen if it’s cold.
And the Merrimack River IS cold. The water temperature at its mouth was reported at 43 degrees this week.
The water is also moving swiftly. And, as Vargas pointed out, the river packs some unpleasant surprises.
“It’s a big river,” he said. “So we got some deep spots, shallow spots, we got rocky stretches. It’s dangerous work. Oh, yeah. It’s very dangerous. Right by the dam, they have signs saying be careful, it’s a rapid current. You can easily get swept in.”
Unfortunately, several dozen people have been swept into the Merrimack River over the years -- most not surviving. In 2022, a six-year-old boy drowned, along with his mother as she tried to rescue him. A kayaker found the boy’s body four days after he fell in.
Vargas knows the odds when it comes to the Merrimack.
“I heard stories of bodies, but I never wanted it to happen to my friends,” he said. “Just heartbreaking. God willing, you know, we’ll find him.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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