ROMNEY, W.Va. — The search continues in Hampshire County for a woman who went missing while swimming at a campground.
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) is helming the search, with assistance from the Romney Fire Department, Springfield Volunteer Fire Department, Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office, as well as a Maryland K-9 search and rescue team.
The woman was reported missing at Wapocoma Campground at 2 p.m. Monday, located along the South Branch of the Potomac River in Hampshire County, about five miles south of Romney. Crews were on scene 15-to-30 minutes later to search for her.
Captain Michael Lott, of DNR District 2 in Romney, said two children were swimming with their mother when water overtook them.
“There were two children on scene, they didn’t need rescuing, they made it to the shore themselves, and they were the ones that reported the female missing,” Lott told MetroNews affiliate WEPM.
The kids told authorities the woman was an experienced swimmer, according to Lott, the kids and the mother had gone swimming on the river several times over the past eight years. An extensive search has ensued in the nearly 24 hours since the missing-person report.
“So far we’ve searched the shoreline, we’ve got our dive team on scene,” Lott said. “Several fire departments (are) on scene doing water searches, riverbank searches, we’ve got our underwater drone doing sonar searches for this individual.”
Lott said they’re pulling out all the stops to try and find the woman.
“The underwater drone that we are using has an underwater sonar system and a video camera system, that we’re using both,” Lott said. “We use the sonar to get targets of interest, then we can drive the drone up to that target of interest, can use the underwater camera to verify whether it’s what we’re looking for or not.”
Crews are searching an approximate four-mile area, Lott reported.
“We typically focus on the general area where the person went missing,” Lott said. “So, we’re looking at a pool that’s approximately 500 yards long and 190 feet wide. We’re focusing on that pool, because underwater there’s a lot of debris, rocks, brush that we’re sifting through.”
Lott said there’s a second dive team working downstream as well, looking for that woman. He said they’re trying to limit what’s on the water in terms of boats for the moment, so as not to interfere and cause safety risks for the divers.
Lott said the DNR has rescued several people, as well as some reported drownings along the Potomac River in Hampshire County over the years, but not specifically at this particular campground.
“This actual swimming area that we’re at right now, historically it’s not a dangerous place,” Lott said. “Families and kids swim here all the time; we don’t typically run into any problem. It’s a private-owned campground, it’s not a public campground swimming area, so you’ve got to pay to get in.”
WEPM’s Marsha Chwalik and Luke Wiggs contributed to this story.