A kayaker was airlifted from Great Falls Park in Potomac on Thursday after being separated from a kayak in the Potomac River, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services (MCFRS) spokesperson Pete Piringer.
At about 6:20 p.m., MCFRS personnel were dispatched after two people went over the falls in the river near the border of Montgomery County and Fairfax County, Virginia, according to Piringer.
The two boaters had fallen into the water and were separated from their kayak, Piringer said.
One person was extracted by a U.S. Park Police helicopter in a rescue basket and transported to Suburban Hospital, MCFRS public information officer Dave Pazos told MoCo360 Friday. The other kayaker was rescued, treated and released by Fairfax Fire and Rescue personnel, Piringer posted on social media.
After falling from their kayak, Piringer said one person self-extricated from the water onto the Virginia bank while the other remained on rocks within the rapids below the falls with traumatic injuries. The individual in the rapids was airlifted by U.S. Park Police, he said.
Pazos said the kayakers were young adults and “lucky to be alive.”
As of Friday morning, the condition of the kayaker who was airlifted to the hospital is unknown. He said their kayak is “still there churning in the falls.”
