Accident Database

Report ID# 4037

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  • Equipment Trap
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Accident Description

The Latest: Victim Named in Shenandoah Tubing River Accident

By The Associated Press

HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. — Jun 7, 2016, The Latest on the Shenandoah River tubing accident (all times local): 4:40 p.m. Officials have released the name of a woman who died while tubing in the Shenandoah River near the West Virginia-Maryland border. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says in a news release that 40-year-old Katrina Anne Meeks died in the accident Monday evening. She was from Purcellville, Virginia.

The release says Meeks went underwater after the tube in which she was floating got caught on something. She didn't come back up, and police believe she drowned. The tube and other belongings were taken into evidence. The release says five members of the woman's family who were also on the trip were rescued. They included a 13-year-old girl whom Maryland State Police rescued by helicopter from a rock surrounded by rapids.

A woman drowned and a 13-year-old girl was rescued after kayaks and tubes a family was using in the Shenandoah River capsized Monday, an emergency official said. 

Katrina Anne Meeks, 40, of Purcellville, Virginia, died after a rope connected to the tube she was using got caught on something and she went underwater, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office said.

Meeks and five family members were using kayaks and inner tubes they had tied together when the accident occurred near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, close to the Maryland border, according to Bakerton Fire Department Chief Josh Smith.

None of the family members were wearing life jackets, officials said.

A 13-year-old girl who was stranded on a rock surrounded by rapids was rescued by helicopter from the scene near Bull Falls rapids, Smith said. The other family members were also rescued from the scene, checked out at a hospital and released, he said.

The sheriff's office is investigating the incident and took as evidence the tube Meeks was using. Sheriff Pete Dougherty warned residents of the dangers the river can pose.

"Be careful when you go out," he said. "The water is a great place, water resources are wonderful places to be, but make sure you take some safety precautions when you go out."

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