17-year-old drowns in Engler Park’s Giessing Lake

Jeannie Northrup, jnorthrup@dailyjournalonline.com

A 17-year-old male drowned in Giessing Lake early on Thursday evening. The lake is located in Farmington’s Engler Park. Bystanders pulled a second young man from the water before first responders arrived. 

In a press release, the Farmington Fire Department (FFD) said that, at approximately 6:36 p.m., emergency services were dispatched to a water rescue incident at Geissing Lake. Upon arrival, bystanders told first responders that one person was underwater in the lake, and another was safely on the bank.

A 17-year-old male drowned Thursday evening in Engler Park’s Giessing Lake. Another youth was rescued unharmed. Photo courtesy of Discover Farmington.

The release states St. Francois County Ambulance District Personnel attended to the young man on the bank while fire crews deployed an inflatable boat to search for the missing person. The release says that an off-duty FFD Public Safety Diver arrived at the scene with SCUBA equipment and entered the water about 20 minutes after the initial call. 

The safety diver located the teen under the water in less than 15 minutes and brought him to shore. Despite medical crews working to save the drowning victim, he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second press release from the Farmington Police Department said witnesses told officers they saw a group of boys walk toward the lake and heard screaming for help a short time later. No victim names have been released at this time.