PRESTON - State police are investigating after a body was found Thursday morning in the Quinebaug River in Preston.

The body of a white male was pulled from the river Thursday morning, according to state police.

State police and Major Crime Scene detectives were on the site at the Tunnel Hydro Plant near 78 Roosevelt Ave. Extension, after getting a call around 8:42 a.m. for a body found in the water near the dam of the hydro plant. The plant is owned by First Light Power.

Mitch Furber, of Montville, an employee of First Light Power, said he was cutting up a tree near the dam around 8 a.m. when he saw a piece of a sweatshirt caught in the trash tracks. When he looked closer, Furber said he could tell it was a body.

"The body was face down so I could only see the back. A black hood was over the body and the head and the arm was floating out," Furber said. "I saw the body pulled out and from what I could tell, it had been in the water for a long time."

Furber said he and his coworkers called the police and fire department for assistance.

Friends of Patrick McCarthy, of Lisbon, who has been missing since Jan. 18, said they were concerned that the body might be his, based on the description of clothing provided by police.

McCarthy was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.

Police have not confirmed the identity of the body, although the office of Chief Medical Examiner is expected to release more details on Friday.

Police said the medical examiner’s office will conduct a post-mortem examination of the body to determine the cause and manner of death.