UPDATE: Search continues after swimmer reported missing in Great Falls area

First responders in swift water boats and a U.S. Park Police helicopter are scouring the Potomac River for a man who went missing while swimming in the Great Falls Park area Sunday. Montgomery County, Maryland, police and fire departments received a call around 6:15 p.m. for a swimmer in distress near the Billy Goat Trail in the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park in Potomac, Maryland. The swimmer — identified Tuesday as Nazir Bell, a 20-year-old Montgomery County resident — was last seen just south of Sandy Landing after getting separated from a group of other young adults, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer. “They were in the water with a goal of swimming from the Maryland Shoreline to [the] Virginia Shoreline,” Piringer told FFXnow by email. “Apparently, while swimming, he called out to his friends for help, went under the water and never resurfaced.” Units with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department were dispatched to Great Falls Park (9200 Old Dominion Drive) on the Virginia side of the river around 6:31 p.m. to assist with the search, according to scanner traffic. Over 40 first responders and eight boats from the Montgomery and Fairfax departments got involved Sunday, but the search was called off at sunset “due to stormy weather conditions,” NBC Washington reported. First responders deployed again from Old Anglers Inn in Maryland Monday to continue the search on land and water with the U.S. Park Police helicopter providing an overhead view. According to Piringer, the missing man is now presumed to have drowned. “This morning involves several @mcfrs swift water boats & crew(s) and USPark Police Eagle 1 helicopter, to include several other swift water boat teams this afternoon,” Piringer said on social media. “Search teams utilizing sonar & thermal imaging equipment to aid in the search.” The Fairfax County Police Department has also been providing assistance with the search, though the Park Police is the primary law enforcement agency involved, according to a police spokesperson. Swimming in the Potomac River is illegal, with violations leading to potential fines of $200 or more, according to the National Park Service, which notes that the river might seem calm on the surface but has strong undercurrents. Mather Gorge in Great Falls Park is among the most dangerous areas. “STAY OUT of the river and STAY ALIVE. You may not even stick your feet in the water,” the NPS says on the park website. “That puts you at risk of slipping into the river, landing on a rock or hitting your head, and being dragged out by the current.”