WASHINGTON — The man whose car plunged into the water at the Columbia Island Marina off the George Washington Parkway Friday morning has died, police said.
The incident happened around 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The car was completely submerged and the man was pulled through the car window, according to the Arlington County Fire Department.
Crews ended up breaking the rear windshield to look for anyone else in the vehicle, while getting the driver’s side door open to pull the man out.
The man was taken to George Washington University Hospital where he later died, according to D.C. police.
Officials are unsure as to why the car ended up in the water.
“We’re not sure if there was any seat belt involved or not,” said Joe Temarantz, one of the Arlington County firefighters who dove down and pulled the man out. “Once we found him, which was rather quickly, we were able to hold on to his arm and then we were able to, between the three of us with a little bit of force, move him around and get him out of there. It’s hard to say if he was caught on anything in the car or what the case may have been.”
Temarantz is part of the special dive team for water and swift water rescues.
He said that there was no visibility in the water for divers trying to get the man out of his car.
“It was probably at least 8 to 10 feet (deep) at the end of that ramp, because the vehicle did go down to the end of the ramp and did float into the water a little ways,” Temarantz said.
Responders found no additional victims on the scene.
The vehicle was also pulled from the water shortly after the incident.
“We have no idea at this time,” said Taylor Blunt, spokesman for Arlington County Fire. “There could be any number of things that could have happened.”
The Arlington Fire Department, the DC Fire and EMS dive team, U.S. Park Police helicopters and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority fire boats all responded to the scene.
WTOP’s Anna Isaacs and John Domen contributed to this report.
