PARKER — The body of an Armstrong County man was recovered from the Allegheny River near the bridge in Parker at 1 p.m. Friday after a joint effort by emergency responders from several counties.

William D. Kelly, 26, of Parker jumped off the bridge into the river with a friend with the intention of swimming to shore at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. The friend made it to shore. Kelly began swimming, but then disappeared under the water surface.

Emergency responders said they used underwater cameras and sonar to search the area where he disappeared.

A rope also was set up and personnel in dry suits attempted to find Kelly. However, by 9:30 p.m. Thursday Kelly still was not found and, taking into account the water current and debris in the river, the decision was made to resume the search Friday.

“After being on the scene for about 45 minutes it goes from being a rescue situation to a recovery situation,” said Parker City First Assistant Fire Chief Rick Amsler, who headed up the recovery.

The efforts resumed at 8 a.m. Friday with a regional team of fire departments from Butler and Armstrong counties called Team 300 assisting, as well as fire departments from Oil City, Punxsutawney, St. Petersburg, Emlenton, and Kiski Township along with Murrysville Medic One.

At 12:30 p.m., the underwater detection equipment found Kelly’s body.

Amsler said the death was tragic.

The assistant fire chief praised the emergency responders’ efforts.

“When I say today that there were a lot of positives, we got no one hurt,” he said. “No one got hurt, no divers were trapped looking for (the body).”

He also noted the relatively quick recovery time — mentioning experience on recoveries that took days — and the well-organized effort as positives.

Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer said Kelly’s cause of death was drowning.