CLAY COUNTY, Ark. – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said a child drowned while swimming in the St. Francis River Saturday afternoon.

CCSO officials said the eight-year-old was swimming with friends in a section of the river locally known as Cottonwood Point at St. Francis.

Authorities said they received a call just after 4 p.m. that the child had gone under the water and hadn’t come back up.

The sheriff’s office and several agencies then began a search for the child, including Arkansas State Police, Arkansas Game and Fish officers, Missouri Department of Conservation officers and the Dunklin County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials with the CCSO said the eight-year-old was later found at 8:26 p.m.