After six and a half hours of recovery efforts on Tuesday, the State Police Marine Services Bureau temporarily suspended operations at Budd Lake in Mount Olive.

Divers managed to find one body under the ice; officials expressed hope that the other would be found today.

Emergency personnel started search and rescue efforts Monday evening after several reports of screams for help. Two teenage boys, both Mount Olive High School students, reportedly fell through the ice. Exact circumstances surrounding the incident, including why they were more than 100 yards from land, were not immediately known.

scene from Budd Lake recovery
The recovery scene at Budd Lake (Townsquare Media)
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Authorities would not confirm the identity of the body found or the boy whose body allegedly remains submerged, but the social media community and local residents have identified the victims as Clyde Schimanski and Nick Cianciotto.

"They were just nice kids all around...always had a smile on their face," said fellow student Alan Anagnostos, who saw the alleged victims on the day of the incident.

Anagnostos said counseling was made available to students at the school, where kids wore blue to honor the lives lost.

"Everyone's just in deep shock," he added.

"You're going to go school now, and you're missing someone," said 19-year-old Amanda Shaw, who decided against going on the ice Monday. "It's just one tragedy after the next."

In June of last year, a Budd Lake teenager was killed in a fiery crash two days before he was to graduate from MOHS. His passenger, a 19 year old from Flanders, also died in the crash.

Several residents at the recovery scene said they witnessed quite a few people on the ice Monday, hours before the deadly incident occurred.

"I saw the geese and the water moving, and I said, 'I don't know if I would be out there,'" said Budd Lake resident Betty Marcus, who reportedly saw people ice skating and riding quads Monday afternoon.

Joann Scheer, owner of Pavilion Lounge across the street from the lake, said she is in the process of arranging a fundraiser to help pay for funeral costs. She knew the teens involved and their parents.

"They're good kids, polite," she said.

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