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Accident Database: Accident #801
| River: | Potomac |
| Section: | 6. Little Falls |
| Location: | Chain Bridge |
| Difficulty: | I |
| Accident Code(s): | No PFD |
| Injury Code(s): | Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal, Fatal |
| Age: | 12 |
| Private/Commercial: | Private |
| Boat Type: | Open Canoe |
| Number of Occupants: | 4 |
| Number in Group: | 4 |
| Number of Victims: | 1 |
| Hazard Codes: | Water Temp |
| Summary: | On April 25th a family from Germany paddling a borrowed canoe capsized in the vicinity of Chain Bridge on the Potomac River in Washington, DC. According to the Channel 9 News website, the canoe carried a 43 year-old man and three 12-13 year-old children. No one was wearing a PFD. The boat was probably overloaded, and because the area is at the bottom of Class IV Little Falls Rapid tricky currents may have contributed to the boat’s capsizing. Two of the paddlers swam to shore while a third was plucked from a rocky mid-river outcrop by the DC Harbor Patrol. The fourth, Jennifer Lohnert, could not be found. |
| Link: | http://www.nbc4.com/news/2162496/detail.html |
| Report Status: | Incomplete |
