MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — A woman died after being trapped underwater under a rock in the Potomac River Sunday afternoon, according to the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. She has since been identified as Ella Mills from Dublin, Ireland who was a junior at Columbia University.
About two dozen adults with the Columbia University Whitewater Kayaking Club were boating when Mills became trapped under a rock.
MCFRS said people came to her aid before the agency's arrival, but she did not survive.
General Studies Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch released a statement on Monday regarding the death.
“Ella had a love for learning, was intellectually curious, and passionate about literature—eager to soak in new ways of looking at literature and viewing the world as a literary scholar,” Rosen-Metsch wrote. “She was an active member of the Trinity College Dublin community as part of the Trinity College Dublin drama society, the DU Players, the Trinity College Dublin Tennis Club, and the Philosophical Society, among many others.”
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating.