The body of North East man who dove off a cliff into the Susquehanna River Sunday was found about three hours later by divers from the Susquehanna Hose Company of Havre de Grace.
Maryland Natural Resources Police said Matthew Bolte, 24, dove off the cliff at Wildcat Point, came up to the surface and then disappeared around 3:30 p.m., according to what Bolte's friends told Natural Resources Police investigators.
Candy Thomson, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Police, said Wildcat Point is as a "popular, well-known place" for cliff diving.
Multiple agencies were involved in the search for Bolte's body, including rescue teams from Cecil County, Harford County and Lancaster County, Pa., according to a news release posted on the Natural Resources Police website.
Divers with the Susquehanna Hose Company, of Havre de Grace, found Mr. Bolte's body in about 45 feet of water around 6:30 p.m., according to the release.
The search for Mr. Bolte's body was conducted as thunderstorms moved through the area.
"That the divers recovered him so quickly, in those conditions, was simply remarkable," Thomson said.
She highlighted the Susquehanna Hose divers' "level of expertise."
"They're dealing with the sun going down, they're dealing with storms rolling in, they're dealing with lighting, and they're on the water," Thomson said.
Wildcat Point is about four miles north of the Conowingo Dam and about half a mile south of the Mason-Dixon Line. It is parallel to the north-south Norfolk Southern rail line that runs along the Cecil County side of the river from Maryland to Pennsylvania.
The cliffs are about 65 feet high, according to the DNR Police press release. Thomson said the area is "remote," and no lifeguards are on duty.
A 25-year-old man from Delaware died while diving at Wildcat Point in 2013, and a 23-year-old man died while diving there in 2002, according to the release.
An autopsy on Mr. Bolte's body was scheduled Monday at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, according to the news release. OCME spokesperson Bruce Goldfarb said late Monday afternoon that the case is still under investigation.
A four-and-a-half-minute video, "Cliff Diving in Conowingo, Maryland," can be found on YouTube in which a group of young men can be seen doing flips and twists off the graffiti-covered rocks into the river below.