Search efforts started back up Wednesday to find a 25-year-old man who went missing while swimming in the Potomac River.
Montgomery County Fire & Rescue received word that two people were in the water in an area south of the Sandy Landing boat access point on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Montgomery County Fire & Rescue spokesperson Pete Piringer said on X.
One swimmer, in his late teens or early 20s, got himself out of the water safely and reunited with a third person on the Virginia shoreline who called for assistance. The second swimmer, a 25-year-old man, remains missing, a Montgomery County Fire & Rescue spokesperson told WTOP-FM.
Initial search efforts using sonar from five Montgomery County Fire & Rescue boats, four Fairfax County Fire/Rescue boats, dogs and drones were unsuccessful, and the search had to be paused Tuesday due to oncoming storms, Mr. Piringer said.
The U.S. Park Police also searched by foot on the shore and with a helicopter, but were similarly unsuccessful, the agency told WJLA-TV.
Swimming in the Potomac River is illegal, and the latest missing person case is the third to occur on the Potomac over the past two months.
Earlier this month, a 16-year-old disappeared in the river on July 2 and was found dead on July 3, and Towson University student Nazir Bell disappeared in June while swimming before being found dead three days later. Both victims drowned.
Drownings by people who go swimming despite the rules and warnings are a recurring issue on the Potomac River. As of 2022, Montgomery County had an average of about seven drownings in the river annually, according to an article at the time from WJLA-TV.
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