Accident Database

While fishing from  an island near the junction of the Passumpsic and Connecticut rivers in Monroe near the Vermont state line on Thursday.  their anchored and unoccupied raft kicked loose and started to drift away, likely due to rising water. One of the anglers, Jonathan Zukowski, guide and owner of Mountain High Fly in Lincoln, New Hampshire, entered the water to try to retrieve it. Jonathan lost his footing and got caught in the current and pushed downriver. The others tried to throw him a lifejacket, but he was not able to reach it. Forty-eight hours after he was last seen, Jonathan has still not been found.

 

One life was lost, two were forever changed, and countless friends and family must now deal with the unspeakable tragedy of young man lost in the prime of his life. Our hearts go out to everyone involved, especially the Zukowski family, his girlfriend Laura, and Jon’s closest friends.

 

If there is any consolation in this horrific loss, it is that Jonathan passed away doing what he loved most, and where he most loved to do it.

 

Officials ID man presumed drowned in the area of Nine Island

Staff Report Apr 8, 2022

Manchester Union Leader

Officials have identified a man who went underwater and did not resurface on Wednesday in the area of Nine Island at the junction of the Passumpsic and Connecticut Rivers in Monroe.

The man has been identified as Jonathan Zukowski, 31, of Woodstock. Search efforts are continuing, according a news release from the New Hampshire State Police Marine Patrol on Friday.

Around 2:20 p.m. Wednesday, state police dispatch received a 911 call reporting two people stranded on an island and a third individual who had gone underwater nearby and had not resurfaced.

Marine Patrol Sgt. Seth Alie and Supervisor David Jones responded to the scene. According to state police, three men had been fishing from Nine Island when one man noticed their boat was drifting away and entered the water to try to retrieve it.

“Despite attempts to throw him a life jacket, he went underwater and did not resurface,” Marine Patrol said in a statement.

State police, New Hampshire Fish and Game, fire personnel from Monroe, Littleton and Bath as well as St. Johnsbury, Vt., and Woodville EMS responded.

 

Fisherman's body recovered a month after drowning in Monroe

Woodstock man went missing in April after attempting to enter water

May 3, 2022

MONROE, N.H. —  New Hampshire Fish and Game recovered the body of a fisherman who drowned in Monroe nearly a month ago, according to New Hampshire marine patrol.

Officials said the victim was Jonathan Zukowski, 31, of Woodstock. The manner of his death was an accident. His body was found along the shores of the Connecticut River on Tuesday.

Officials said Zukowski was fishing with two other men from Nine Island on April 6. He noticed their boat was drifting and attempted to enter the water to catch it. He went underwater and did not come back up.

The New Hampshire Fish and Game dive team dove for three days without success when he went missing.