Canoe capsizes, injuring three

Victim swept down Potomac

From Staff Reports

OLDTOWN — Three people were taken to the hospital Saturday evening after their boat capsized in the Potomac River, sweeping one passenger about a mile downstream.

No one was seriously injured, officials at the Allegany County 911 Center said.

The three, all young people, were riding in a small canoe when they got out to walk it across the river at the low water bridge, said Katie Dunson, 911 dispatcher. That’s when one was swept away by the current, she said.

The boaters’ names weren’t immediately available. All three were transported to Memorial Hospital, Dunson said.

“The one they pulled out a mile down was pretty cold and wet,” she said.

Responding were Allegany County Swift Water Rescue based in Bowling Green, Cumberland Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue and Oldtown and District 16 firefighters.