Persons safe after canoe overturns in Mad River

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

One person made it to shore and began going door-to-door asking help after a canoe overturned in the Mad River Saturday night, said Tim Wendling, chief of the Mad River Fire Department.

Bethel Fire Department and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base helped to assist the Mad River Fire Department in search of a few people that overturned in a canoe and were trapped in the water near Wynn Road. The woman who made it to shore went door-to-door screaming and asking for help, Wendling said

“I do advise if someone does start going door-to-door, and they find somebody, to actually stay at that residence so we can contact them and get a full story from that person, and to make sure that they’re safe also,” Wendling said.

Gail Dunn, a resident on Wynn Road, heard someone yelling in a high-pitched hysterical voice yelling, “help me.” That’s when a woman said there had been an accident, her canoe flipped, and her friends were trapped, Dunn explained.

“She was disheveled, soaking wet, dirty. It looked like she had climbed up the river bank,” Dunn said.

By the time Dunn turned around to grab her phone, the woman had run off again.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office did talk to the victim that was looking for help, and all persons from the canoe were accounted for and safe.

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