LINCOLN – The body of a 17-year-old Lowell girl was recovered from Franconia Falls in the White Mountains on Tuesday, officials say.

Julia Hassan, 17, who graduated from Lowell High School in the spring, was hiking when she fell into the water, according to authorities.

Lincoln Police Chief Theodore Smith said Hassan was hiking with four friends from Lowell around 2 p.m. Tuesday about four miles into the Pemigewasset Wilderness from the Lincoln Woods trailhead on the Kancamagus Highway when she slipped on the rocks and fell into the water. The trailhead is several miles east of downtown Lincoln.

Smith said the falls are about 15 to 20 feet high in spots. He said the water below the falls can be very turbulent when there are heavy rains, causing flash flooding and creating whirlpools and currents that can drag someone underwater.

“She went into the water and she did not surface,” Smith said.

He said he did not know how long Hassan and her friends had been in Lincoln before the incident.

“It’s just a very tragic, unfortunate accident,” Smith said.

Emergency crews from Lincoln and Woodstock along with Fish and Game officers searched the area for approximately four hours before recovering her body Tuesday evening.

Conservation Officer Jeremy Hawkes said Hassan was at the falls with friends who wanted to swim and use the boulders as a waterslide, a popular activity. They attempted to cross the brook to get to a safer location where the water wasn’t so high. While attempting to cross between two rocks, Hassan lost her footing and was immediately swept into the rapids.

Hawkes said heavy rain caused the boulders to be extremely slippery and caused high water conditions.

Hassan’s friends had to hike back at least three miles to the Lincoln Woods parking area to flag down a passing driver who called 911, as there was no cellphone reception in the area.

Smith said her body was released by the medical examiner and turned over to a funeral home for arrangements.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to Ms. Hassan’s family and friends in this most difficult time,” Lincoln Police said in a statement.

Hassan was a member of the National Honor Society and attended Lowell High’s Latin Lyceum. Upon her graduation, she received a Scolaris-Humanitas Arete, or Excellence, Award for academic achievement and extracurricular and community involvement, as well as a scholarship from the LHS Alumni Chorus.

Hassan worked as a member of the stage crew of the LHS production of “Beauty and the Beast” in March and was one of 34 LHS students to travel to Spain over April vacation.

Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services Jeannine Durkin said in an email that Lowell High School will be open on Thursday from 10 a.m. until noon, with the Lowell Public School Critical Incident Response Team on hand to offer counseling to any member of the school community in need.

“Julia was a beloved member of the Lowell High School community and offered the world great promise,” Durkin said. “She will be greatly missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to Julia’s family during this difficult time.”

The Sun first wrote about Hassan in 2007 when she was 10 years old. Her essay, “Hermione Granger: My Window into a Magical Place,” won top honors in a Harry Potter writing contest run by School Committee member Connie Martin.

“Hermione and I are so similar, we both love to read books and we are always wanting to learn more and more,” Hassan wrote. “When I sit down to the magical world of Hogwarts I enter the world as Hermione. I feel that she is my connection to Harry, Ron, and all the other marvelous characters. I am her as I journey along through the pages of the book, lost in this marvelous world of fantasy.”

Hassan’s essay praises Hermione’s strength and tenacity.

“I like the fact that a heroine can be based on intellect not muscles,” she wrote.

Her love of the Harry Potter continued through the present, as evidenced by frequent mentions of the series and its characters on her Twitter page.

On social media, friends and acquaintances mourned the loss of a sweet and intelligent girl.

Hassan’s family could not immediately be reached for comment.

For more on this story read Thursday’s Sun or click on http://www.lowellsun.com