PHOENIX -- A dive team from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on Thursday recovered the body of an Apache Junction man who drowned in the Salt River.

He is identified as Robert Frances, 28.

He disappeared just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Frances was with three other friends who were tubing down the river, deputies said. One of the friends in the party swam out and started having difficulty.

Three of his companions came to his rescue and all four swam back to the shoreline, deputies said.

Frances then tried to swim back to his original position against the current, when he was pulled underwater and never resurfaced.