A woman died after a boat she was on capsized in the Potomac River Sunday afternoon.
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the Fredericksburg Free Press.
According to Hunter Dortenzo, public information officer with the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP), officers from NRP and King George County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched at 4:45 p.m. to a call for a capsized vessel with six individuals in the water in the area of Belvedere Beach in King George County.
Officers were able to rescue five people near the pontoon boat, which capsized due to sudden weather conditions in the area. The boat was located 1,000 feet off the Fairview Beach marina.
Gil James was one of the first on the scene after receiving a distress call through TowBoatUS. James, a boat captain and a Prince Georges County (Md.) firefighter/paramedic, said the area was hit by severe thunderstorms with high winds.
“One of our neighbors recorded 40-miles-an-hour [sic] gusts at one point,” said James, who lives in Fairview Beach. “When I got the call, the rain had just started to stop but everything was flooded down here.”
James and his son were able to reach the boat and rescue five passengers, who he said were not wearing life jackets at the time of the incident. “I think it just happened so fast that they didn’t have a chance to respond.”
Meteorologist Sean Sublette confirmed that the National Weather Service had issued a Special Marine Warning at 3 p.m. Sunday, specifically for the Fairview Beach area. “And depending on the size of the craft, a 34 knot (39 mph) gust can capsize a vessel,” said Sublette.
A King George County ambulance transported one person to Mary Washington Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A woman’s body was recovered from the wreckage of the boat two hours later as the result of a multi-agency search and was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore.
James said that the pontoon boat was familiar to him because of its unique style. “It looks like a boat with a camper shell on top of it, with all glass surrounding it. It was an unusual design with a full kitchen and full bathroom.”
Assisting agencies included the U.S. Coast Guard, Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Charles County (Md.) Fire and EMS, and King George County Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services Fire Boat 1 and King George County Sheriff’s Office boat responded.
Maryland Department of Natural Resources is leading the investigation.
