First responders spend second day searching for man missing in Potomac River

No one was found after several hours; search to continue Thursday

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July 29, 2026 7:30 p.m. | Updated: July 29, 2026 7:31 p.m.

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Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews and first responders from Virginia spent Wednesday on the Potomac River searching for a man who went missing in the water on Tuesday.

MCFRS Assistant Chief Dan Ogren told Bethesda Today Wednesday evening that crews were out searching for four or five hours and were ultimately unsuccessful in locating the man. 

Ogren said the team plans to resume searching Thursday morning around 9 a.m. While it is too dangerous to send divers because of visibility concerns, he said the team plans to use a new sonar and submersible drone to help them search.

Ogren said if they’re unsuccessful Thursday, the team will likely go back out Friday morning as well, weather permitting. He said the standard procedure is to send crews out for three days after an incident. If no one is found after those three days, they will call off all search operations.

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“Hopefully we’ll have success,” he told Bethesda Today. 

This incident began when a man in his 20s entered the Potomac River on the Virginia side Tuesday afternoon, according to radio transmissions. Crews from MCFRS and Virginia were on the river searching until called off due to impending severe weather, Ogren told Bethesda Today on Tuesday. Ogren said that nine boats, a K-9 unit, a sonar radar and an underwater drone were involved in search efforts, which lasted close to four hours before being paused.

Boats were back in the water Wednesday shortly after 9 a.m. and ended operations around 2 p.m., according to first responder radio transmissions.

Ogren says it is not unusual for a person to remain stuck below the surface of the water. Some parts of the river are uneven, rocky and full of debris, and some parts are more than 70 feet deep.

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Ogren emphasized that it is not safe for anyone to swim in the Potomac.

“It’s dangerous to do it, but people will still do it,” he told Bethesda Today.

Swimming in many areas of the Potomac River, especially near Great Falls, is prohibited, MCFRS spokesperson Pete Piringer has told Bethesda Today in the past.

“Swimming is prohibited in those areas for good reason,” Piringer said. “It doesn’t matter where you go; the currents are always a challenge. They’re more dangerous and stronger down near the Great Falls.”

This search is the latest in a series of emergencies on the Potomac River in recent months. Earlier this summer, a 20-year-old Towson University student and a 16-year-old boy died in separate incidents in the river.

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— Elia Griffin contributed to this story.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine