Carbon County Commissioners sent their condolences to the family of the teen who drowned in Mauch Chunk Lake on the Fourth of July, and added that while the investigation is still ongoing, everything was done by staff that could have been done.

On Thursday, the board discussed the incident that happened over the holiday weekend when a 17-year-old slipped under the water unnoticed and drowned.

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich sent his condolences in Spanish, translating it via email Thursday afternoon.

He said, “I want to express my most profound and deepest condolences to the family that suffered the tragedy on 4 July at MCLP with the drowning of the young man, possibly with special needs. May God bless you (the family).”

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein sent his condolences to the family of the victim.

He then said that the lifeguards, sheriff’s deputies, park staff, police and emergency responders did everything they could once they were notified of the missing teen.

“The lifeguarding at Mauch Chunk Lake … is not like a swimming pool in Lehighton or Lansford or anywhere else, where you can see the bottom of the water, or you have so many people in such a big area,” Nothstein said, adding that there were four lifeguards on the sand that day. “They have an extremely difficult job compared to a local swimming pool where you have trouble tracking and cannot see the bottom.”

He said that one lifeguard was visibly upset after the incident and “it’s not something, especially a young person, is used to seeing or doing every day.”

Counseling was made available to the lifeguards and at the park.

Nothstein also thanked the police officers for doing CPR.

“From what I understand, the response couldn’t have been any better or any quicker. They immediately, within minutes of finding out what happened, they were out there doing a search. They called for a dive team right away. … In my opinion, the response time and reaction from all the personnel … couldn’t have been any better of a job and probably would not have changed the outcome of what had occurred there.”

The drowning happened just after 4 p.m. on Monday.

According to previous articles, Jim Thorpe police were notified at 4:19 p.m. for a report of a possible drowning.

The boy, who is from Mexico, was discovered to be missing and witnesses said he went into the water.

He was located in the deeper end of the lake, beyond the roped-off swimming area and brought in by people forming a chain. CPR was done on the victim until being transported to St. Luke’s Miners Campus in Coaldale, where he was pronounced dead.