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This story was updated at 6:30 p.m. June 5 and corrected on June 6.

Recovery efforts have been suspended until Monday in the search for the body of a White Oak man who fire and rescue officials believe drowned in the Triadelphia Reservoir around 5 p.m. Friday after he and a group of friends went swimming. The search, which began Friday, continued from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Sunday, and officials said a smaller group of searchers would resume operations the next day.

"Two boys and a girl drove out here [Friday], went hiking, and apparently decided to take a swim," Sandy Spring Volunteer Fire Chief George Brown said Saturday from the department's command post at a boat launch off Triadelphia Lake Road. "Apparently they were walking in chest-high water when they took a few steps and the bottom suddenly fell out."

The victim, 21 year-old Bruce Yansen, slipped under the water, and the other man, a relative of Yansen's who officials have not named, attempted to rescue him, Brown said.

"In the process of trying to get each other back to shore, [the other man] grabbed [Yansen's] arm," Brown said, explaining that Yansen began to panic as he struggled to stay above water. "In the ensuing struggle, they lost each other's grip and that was the last they saw of him."

By Sunday, the chance of recovering Yansen's body alive was slim, said Asst. Chief Scott Graham, spokesman for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services.

"The further away from the actual incident we get, the lesser the chances of finding him in the water alive," he said, adding that crews have combed the shores.

"We will have to wait for the person to surface now," he said. "Somebody walking or biking up around the lake, or a boater, will more than likely see the victim when he comes to the surface, and when that happens, we'll send the boats out there to retrieve them."

Fishing is permitted on the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission reservoir, which is usually open to the public, but swimming is strictly prohibited and posted on signs around the reservoir and near public entrances.

After calling off the search just before sunset Friday, the boats and divers returned promptly at 6 a.m. Saturday, with fire officials taking a group of Montgomery County police tracking dogs out to the location of the drowning, Brown said. One of the dogs made an immediate "hit," Brown said, indicating to its handlers that Yansen's body could still be in the area where witnesses told officers Yansen went under.

Patrick Smith, one of the divers from Howard County's Fifth District volunteer station in Clarksville, said he and his colleagues have been somewhat limited by the poor visibility of the water in their search.

"We set up a pattern and just keep working it back and forth methodically. In this environment here, we had less than a foot of visibility; literally, you can't see your hand in front of your face, so everything was on the bottom by feel, working very slowly, back and forth, back and forth," he said. "The deepest point we hit in our search was probably about 15 feet, so not very deep, but it's just a matter of the low visibility that makes it very difficult."

The dive teams began working from the shore Saturday morning, combing the lake bottom to the extent of the dive ropes, which extend about 130 feet, Smith said. From there, the team began working from an air boat while other boats patrolled the shore for miles in each direction, just in case Yansen's body drifted out of the immediate search area.

At least one of the witnesses who was with Yansen returned Friday with rescue officials Saturday, leading the diver to Yansen's last known location.

While officials believe Yansen's body is still in the area, there is a slight current from a nearby river that empties into the reservoir, Smith said.

About 45 to 50 Montgomery and Howard county fire and rescue officials joined police officers from both counties and the WSSC in the initial search Friday. A smaller contingent with three Sandy Spring boats and a Germantown volunteer fire rescue boat returned to assist the divers Saturday.

Jurisdiction of the land falls first to WSSC police, but an agreement reached by WSSC with Howard and Montgomery counties states that police action on the water defaults to Montgomery County by WSSC's request, even though Howard County borders the far shore and the county line is drawn right down the middle of the reservoir, Brown said.

"The interagency interaction between all agencies involved has been absolutely fantastic," Brown said.

All WSSC recreation areas were open Sunday and will also be open Monday, according to a WSSC statement.

Correction: The Howard County's Fifth District volunteer station is in Clarksville.