Accident Database

Report ID# 3469

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Accident Description

http://www.mtstandard.com/news/state-and-regional/article_e1f463d2-0d8a-558e-96dd-a4db0cea1146.html

Search suspended for woman missing
in Smith River boating accident

Associated Press Tuesday, May 24, 2011

GREAT FALLS — Meagher County officials say dangerous water conditions have led them to temporarily suspend the search for a 68-year-old Yakima, Wash., woman who went missing when her boat capsized on the Smith River last week.

Mary Patricia Plochowietz and her husband, Roy, were floating the popular river on May 16 when their boat hit a log and overturned about seven miles downstream from Camp Baker, where they had launched the boat.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials closed the Smith River on Sunday when high runoff made it too dangerous to float. Officials said the search will resume once the river reaches safer levels.

The couple owns Hy's Mini Mart in Yakima, but family members say they have been spending more time at their residence in Stevensville.

The search effort to find a missing Washington woman has been suspended on the Smith River due to dangerous water conditions.Mary Patricia Plochowietz, 68, of Yakima, Washington, was reported missing after the boat she and her husband were in hit a log and overturned early last Monday afternoon in the Smith River.The woman's husband was able to catch himself on a rock and then swim to shore.

The accident happened approximately 7 miles downstream from where the couple had launched their boat at Camp Baker. 

 

Washington Woman’s Body Recovered From Smith River

The Meagher County Sheriff’s Office says the body of Mary Patricia Plochowietz was recovered Saturday from a remote section of the river.

Montana authorities say they have recovered the body of a 68-year-old Yakima, Wash., woman who went missing in May after her boat capsized on the Smith River.

Two groups of floaters on the river on Friday reported spotting what they believed to be a body lodged in a cliff face.  Meagher County Sheriff Jon Lopp confirmed it was a body with an aerial survey.

Plochowietz and her husband, Roy, were floating the popular river on May 16 when their boat hit a log and overturned about seven miles downstream from Camp Baker, where they had launched.

Associated Press

 

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