Man rescued from remote Middletown quarry waters after 30-foot leap Victim reportedly leapt 30 feet, was underwater over an hour

Emergency workers pulled a young man from a quarry in the woods off Bow Lane in Middletown near the Kleen Energy property on Wednesday. Emergency workers pulled a young man from a quarry in the woods off Bow Lane in Middletown near the Kleen Energy property on Wednesday. Photo: Brian Zahn — The Middletown Press Photo: Brian Zahn — The Middletown Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Man rescued from remote Middletown quarry waters after 30-foot leap 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

MIDDLETOWN >> Dive teams pulled a young man from the waters of a quarry deep in the woods off Bow Lane near the old Kleen Energy property Wednesday afternoon.

A 911 call came in from the man’s friend just after 3 p.m. saying the man had jumped into the illegal swimming hole and had not resurfaced, according to South Fire District Chief Robert Ross. The victim’s age is about 24 and his name was being withheld, authorities said.

Ross couldn’t provide the man’s condition but said he was unconscious when help arrived. Ross said the man jumped 30 feet into 30-feet-deep water in the quarry — an old feldspar sand mine once used for manufacturing glass.

He said the man was underwater for more than an hour.

“There are just pockets of these all over the place,” Ross said, explaining the number of areas swimmers use in the summer in these remote woods — disregarding posted no trespassing signs.

It was an “extremely difficult recovery during an emergency like this,” he said. It took three fire departments — Middletown, South Fire and Portland Fire — and their dive teams, plus ropes and ladders to execute the high-angle rescue in this fenced-off portion of the woods.

“It was very challenging for the divers to pull him out,” he said. It took them an hour and 10 minutes to recover the victim.

Although he couldn’t comment on how often such “pockets” of water are used by people for swimming, he said “the path and debris left behind made it appear like the area is frequented.”

Ross commended emergency workers for their swiftness in recovering the victim under such conditions and warned of the dangers for those thinking of cooling off in these waters on very hot days.

“You put yourself at great risk; getting into the area is a problem and it’s a greater challenge to help these people,” he said.

Emergency workers took the victim from the scene in an ambulance to Middlesex Hospital.

According to Lt. Heather Desmond, the major crimes unit is investigating the incident.

Reporter Brian Zahn contributed reporting to this story.