COLONIAL HEIGHTS—Divers pulled the body of a man from the Appomattox River yesterday, about three hours after he disappeared while attempting to wade across the river with his young nephew. Members of the Chesterfield Fire & EMS dive team discovered the victim’s body about 4 p.m., less than 30 minutes after they began searching for him near Archer Park, just west of the Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge. His name was not immediately released.

Colonial Heights and Chesterfield County authorities this afternoon recovered the body of a man who was believed to have drowned in the Appomattox River after he slipped while wading with his nephew.

Chesterfield County police are investigating the discovery of a body and, in an unrelated incident, a fire that gutted an office building. A decomposed body turned up in the Appomattox River near Petersburg yesterday about 2 p.m. Chesterfield police said the state medical examiner’s office will have to determine the identity and the cause of death.

A 22-mile network of land and water trails touching six jurisdictions along the Appomattox River is half complete and now part of a larger vision: an urban trail stretching from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla. The Friends of the Lower Appomattox River was formed in 2001 to encourage economic development and improve river access. The nonprofit group works under the umbrella of the Crater Planning District Commission.