Search crews will return to the Potomac River on Friday as efforts continue to locate a teenager who disappeared after entering the water near Great Falls on Thursday morning, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service officials.
According to MCFRS spokesperson David Pazos, the teen entered the Potomac River with friends at approximately 6:15 a.m. Thursday in the area of Sandy Landing in Virginia, near Great Falls, and did not resurface. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue swift water teams and the Fairfax County Swift Water Rescue Team searched the river for approximately six hours Thursday before suspending operations. Crews returned to the river Thursday evening, but the search was unsuccessful.
FOX 5 DC reported that the missing swimmer is a 16-year-old boy. Authorities have not publicly released his identity.
The incident comes less than a month after search crews recovered the body of 20-year-old Germantown resident and Towson University student Nazir Bell following a three-day search of the Potomac River near Great Falls. Bell was reported missing on June 14 after becoming separated from a group while swimming in the river and failing to resurface. Emergency crews from Montgomery County, Fairfax County and other partner agencies conducted an extensive search involving approximately 45 personnel, multiple boats and underwater sonar equipment before Bell’s body was recovered on June 16. Officials continue to warn that swimming in the Potomac River near Great Falls is extremely dangerous due to powerful currents, submerged hazards and rapidly changing water conditions.
