By Grace Jacobson / News Director

WAITE PARK, Minn. — Family and friends are mourning the loss of a teenage boy after a popular summer activity in Stearns County cost him his life.

Around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, authorities received a 911 call about a possible drowning at Quarry 11 inside Waite Park’s Quarry Park and Nature Preserve.

Witnesses said that 17-year-old Emmanuel Seward Jr. of Brooklyn Center had jumped off a ten-foot-high cliff into the water but never resurfaced. They said they dove into the water to try and find him but were unsuccessful.

Members of the Stearns/Benton Dive Team, along with the Waite Park and St. Cloud Fire Departments, deployed boats and started searching the quarry.

Finally at around 8:45 p.m., authorities found Seward Jr. in 31 feet of water.

The Quarry Park and Nature Preserve does not have any lifeguards on duty.