Authorities say a 9-year-old boy has drowned while swimming in a river in southeast Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the boy began to struggle Thursday while attempting to swim to an island in the Black River, north of the Highway 67 bridge, near Hendrickson Park in Butler County (north of Poplar Bluff) around 4:40 p.m.The patrol said the boy then went under and didn’t resurface.

He was pronounced dead at 9 p.m. by Butler County Coroner Andy Moore. The body was transported to the Butler County Morgue.

The boy was from the town of Naylor, but the patrol didn’t immediately release his name.

A total of seven Troopers from Troop E were on scene.

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