The holiday weekend was especially dangerous and deadly for area residents around the water, with three people dying and one in critical condition after drowning-related incidents on July Fourth.
The final incident occurred Monday night on the Potomac River when a man apparently slipped, hit his head and fell into the water while trying to untether his boat from another after watching fireworks displays.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Pete Piringer said the incident occurred at about 11 p.m., roughly a half-mile south of Memorial Bridge. He said a D.C. harbor patrol boat reached the unidentified man quickly and took him to the Thompson Boat Center along the Georgetown riverfront. The man was then taken to a hospital where he died.
Earlier in the evening, a 38-year-old man disappeared underwater while trying to retrieve a radio-controlled sailboat at Gunners Lake in Germantown, Montgomery County police said.
The unidentified man was brought back to shore by a friend, then taken by a county rescue crew to a hospital. He was reported Tuesday to be in critical condition.
Monday morning, a 6-year-old boy died after he was pulled from the water before 8 a.m. off Sandy Point State Park in Anne Arundel County, Maryland Natural Resources Police said.
Saquan L. Kennedy of Baltimore was at the park with family and friends.
In another incident, Robert Kane, 25, of Pasadena, Md., was presumed dead after he fell from a 17-foot boat at about 4:30 p.m. when the boat made a sharp turn on the Magothy River near Dobbins Island in Anne Arundel County.
Searchers continued to look Tuesday for Mr. Kane, who was last seen wearing a blue shirt and black pants.
A second man fell overboard from the 17-foot-long Carolina skiff but was rescued by a nearby boater.
• Joseph Weber can be reached at jweber@washingtontimes.com.old.
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