Briefly... CITY/REGION

Teen drowns at campground

Police in Cape May County say a Philadelphia teen drowned in a campground pool yesterday after she and her friends were trying to see "who could hold their breath underwater longest."

The 17-year-old teen, who was not identified, was with a group of friends in the pool at the Hideaway Beach Campground in the Dias Creek section of Middle Township. Police received multiple 9-1-1 calls about 2:20 p.m. yesterday about the incident and arrived to find the girl's friends performing CPR.

Police say the teen and her friends were taking turns holding their breath when the victim went to the bottom of the pool and did not come up. Friends pulled her out of the water, police said, and the girl was pronounced dead at 3:10 p.m. at Cape Regional Medical Center.

Fire victim off life support

A 10-year-old boy who barely survived a Strawberry Mansion house fire is off life support and able to breathe on his own, relatives said yesterday.

Albert Blassengale is moving his fingers and toes for the first time since the Monday night blaze, according to family members. The Gideon School fifth-grader inhaled too much smoke when fire broke out in his rowhouse on 27th Street near Montgomery Avenue. He was rushed to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia without any vital signs.

His father, Jimmy Blassengale, remains at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, recovering from smoke inhalation he suffered trying to save his son.

St. Kevin school to close

St. Kevin Parish Elementary School, which has lost 20 percent of its enrollment since 2005, will close after this school year, parents were told at a meeting Thursday night.

The average class size at the school, in Springfield, Delaware County, would have been only 10 students next year, and only three fourth-graders were scheduled to attend, according to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

2 stabbed in Collingdale

A 16-year-old Collingdale boy and his adult brother were stabbed late Thursday night outside their Felton Avenue home during a fight with three men, police said yesterday. The brothers were hospitalized with nonlife-threatening wounds, and the family is not fully cooperating with police, said Detective Dan Leicht.

Tipsters should call 610-586- 0502.

No drilling-complaint database

The Pennsylvania Department of Health says it does not formally keep track of citizens' health complaints about gas drilling and has not, as a result, linked drilling to any health consequences.

Agency spokeswoman Brandi Hunter-Davenport said yesterday that the department takes citizen complaints about drilling seriously. But she said that the agency does not keep a complaint database and that she could not say how many complaints the agency has received and investigated.

-Staff and wire reports