MADISON — A 35-year-old woman on vacation from the Boston area with her husband and children is believed to have drowned Thursday night in a swimming pool at a campground, police said.
The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate the death of Yen Ngo, who was found floating face-down around 8:25 p.m. in the pool at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park at Yonder Hill, according to a news release from Chief Deputy James Ross, of the sheriff’s office.
An exact cause of death has yet to be determined, he said, though the death is not considered suspicious.
Another camper who drove past the pool on a four-wheeler spotted Ngo, dove into the water and puller her out, performing CPR while another person called 911, Ross said.
Ngo was taken by ambulance to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, where she was pronounced dead. Ngo’s family was at the hospital Thursday night but returned to Massachusetts on Friday, according to campground owner Jeff Foss.
The campground is at 221 Lakewood Road, just over the Madison town line on U.S. Route 201. Jellystone Park, part of a national chain, is on 35 acres and has 120 campsites for recreational vehicles and campers.
Foss said Ngo was part of a group of two families with several children who had rented cabins at the campground. He said she was found in the pool with her clothes on and that it did not appear alcohol had been a factor in the accident.
Ross, however, said it appeared the woman was going swimming and there wasn’t any reason for police to consider the death suspicious.
“The deputy at the scene said that everything was consistent with someone going swimming, with a towel and stuff,” Ross said. “Nothing looked suspicious to him.”
Foss told police that he had walked by the pool about eight to 10 minutes earlier and hadn’t seen anyone there, according to Ross.
The park’s website advertises a single pool called The Ol’ Swimmin Hole, a 60-foot-by-100-foot pool that has “gradual entry in both the shallow and the deep ends” and depths ranging from 3 feet to 9 feet. The pool, which is surrounded by a metal fence, advertises hours of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
There was no lifeguard on duty Thursday night, Foss said. The pool was open Friday morning and people were swimming there.
Ross said police don’t have concerns about the safety of the area. A camper interviewed Friday who didn’t want to give his name said he hadn’t heard about the incident but wasn’t concerned about safety around the pool.
Under standard procedures for all unattended deaths, the state Medical Examiner’s Office was notified, Ross said. The investigation is being handled by the sheriff’s office’s Madison Division. Deputies Craig Dyer and Eric Bronson also are assisting.
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