A search for a man who went missing while swimming in the Murray River is yet to find any sign of the 21-year-old.
Friends acknowledge the chance of a good outcome is fading after Bigul Pandit, a chef at a cafe in Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, vanished while swimming with a group at Noreuil Park on Wednesday night.
Emergency services were called after 7pm when Mr Pandit failed to resurface.
Police, ambulance workers and volunteers searched the river and shoreline until 9.30pm when the effort was suspended.
NSW and Victorian police divers resumed searching the murky water on Thursday but by late afternoon had failed to find any sign of the 21-year-old.
A friend of the missing man said he was heartbroken by the loss.
"Please find him safe. Such a friendly and chatty Bigul," Emamul Milon wrote on Facebook alongside a picture of himself and Mr Pandit.
"There is still (a) little hope. He is lovely."
The search is expected to be called off once night falls, at which point crews will decide whether to resume searching in the morning.
Witnesses say the group of friends was having a barbecue on the riverbank before Mr Pandit vanished.
"They were happy throwing frisbee then went in water," the parent of one "traumatised" witness wrote on Facebook.
