NRP, Howard County Divers Recover Body of Patapsco Swimmer

The body of a 22-year-old Landover man was recovered this afternoon from the Patapsco River by divers from the Maryland Natural Resources Police and Howard County Fire and Rescue.

Bryan Estuardo Diaz was located in 4- to 5- feet of water below Bloede Dam in Patapsco Valley State Park on the Howard County and Baltimore County line. Diaz went swimming in a prohibited area and disappeared from view shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, June 7. Attempts to recover his body before nightfall were unsuccessful.

One of the warning signs posted along Bloede Dam

Fighting high water and powerful hydraulic currents generated by the dam, divers began combing the area beneath the 30-foot-high concrete structure shortly after sunrise. More than two dozen divers and support crew took part in the recovery.

Witnesses said Diaz was swimming near a large rock outcropping in the middle of the river when he disappeared. The area is marked with more than a half-dozen signs in English and Spanish warning of the dangers posed by the dam outflow.

Diaz is the sixth person to drown near Bloede Dam in the last 10 years and the second swimming fatality this season.