WASHINGTON — Two people were caught in the Potomac River in separate incidents Tuesday evening, and one of them still hasn’t been found.
At about 7 p.m., a call came in about a swimmer — a man in his 20s — went into the water near Rocky Island and didn’t come up, said Pete Piringer, of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service.
Searchers including Montgomery County Swift boats, park rangers and the Montgomery County police searched for two hours before calling it off due to darkness. They resumed the search at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Piringer says searchers were already in the area when that call came in, because at about 6 p.m., a 20-year-old woman went into the Potomac north of Great Falls and was swept away by the current. U.S. Park Police searchers in a helicopter spotted her near the American Legion Bridge, about two miles away, and she was rescued by a kayaker in the area, Piringer said.
Piringer pointed out that boating and kayaking are permitted in that area of the Potomac, but swimming and wading are prohibited.
