BUSHKILL, Pennsylvania — A 39-year-old man drowned while rescuing two children from a river before succumbing to the current himself, officials said.

The incident occurred Monday afternoon in Bushkill, Pennsylvania, when authorities received a 911 call around 1:45 p.m. reporting a possible drowning accident in the Delaware River, according to a statement from the National Park Service.

Rescue team members were on the scene within minutes, but were unable to locate the currently unnamed 39-year-old New Jersey man until 3:07 p.m., when rescue crews recovered his body about 20 to 30 feet from shore in about 7 feet of water, officials said.

“According to witnesses, the man was swimming with his family in the Delaware River when two children in the group began to struggle in the current,” the NPS said in a statement after the accident on Monday. “He was able to pull the children to safety before he himself succumbed to the current.”

National Park Service rangers and members of dive teams from the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, as well as rescue teams from the Bushkill, Dingmans and Westfall fire departments and Lehman Township EMS responded Monday to a call for help from Pike County dispatch regarding the drowning man, authorities said.

This is the second drowning accident in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area this summer. The first occurred on June 29, when a 24-year-old man drowned in the waters of the Delaware River near Milford Beach in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, authorities said.

The investigation into the recent drowning accident is not yet complete.