Multiple Crews on Scene In Search for Lacking Swimmer in Hampshire County – The Panhandle News Network

ROMNEY, W.Va. (August 18, 2026) — The search continues in Hampshire County for a lady who went lacking whereas swimming at a campground.

The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) is helming the search, with help from the Romney Fire Department, Springfield Volunteer Fire Department, Hampshire County Sheriff’s Office, in addition to a Maryland Ok-9 search and rescue workforce.

The girl was reported lacking at Wapocoma Campground at 2 p.m. Monday, situated alongside the South Branch of the Potomac River in Hampshire County, about 5 miles south of Romney. Crews had been on scene 15-to-Half-hour later to seek for her.

Captain Michael Lott, of DNR District 2 in Romney, stated two kids had been swimming with their mom when water overtook them.

“There were two children on scene, they didn’t need rescuing, they made it to the shore themselves, and they were the ones that reported the female missing,” Lott informed The Panhandle News Network.

The girl was an skilled swimmer, in keeping with Lott, and had gone swimming on the river a number of occasions over the previous eight years. An intensive search has ensued within the almost 24 hours because the missing-person report.

“So far we’ve searched the shoreline, we’ve got our dive team on scene,” Lott stated. “Several fire departments (are) on scene doing water searches, riverbank searches, we’ve got our underwater drone doing sonar searches for this individual.”

Lott stated they’re pulling out all of the stops to attempt to discover the girl.

“The underwater drone that we are using has an underwater sonar system and a video camera system, that we’re using both,” Lott stated. “We use the sonar to get targets of interest, then we can drive the drone up to that target of interest, can use the underwater camera to verify whether it’s what we’re looking for or not.”

Crews are looking an approximate four-mile space, Lott reported.

“We typically focus on the general area where the person went missing,” Lott stated. “So, we’re looking at a pool that’s approximately 500 yards long and 190 feet wide. We’re focusing on that pool, because underwater there’s a lot of debris, rocks, brush that we’re sifting through.”

Lott stated there’s a second dive workforce working downstream as properly, searching for the girl. He stated they’re attempting to restrict what’s on the water when it comes to boats for the second, in order to not intrude and trigger security dangers for the divers.

Lott stated the DNR has rescued a number of folks, in addition to some reported drownings alongside the Potomac River in Hampshire County through the years, however not particularly at this explicit campground.

“This actual swimming area that we’re at right now, historically it’s not a dangerous place,” Lott stated. “Families and kids swim here all the time; we don’t typically run into any problem. It’s a private-owned campground, it’s not a public campground swimming area, so you’ve got to pay to get in.”

WEPM’s Charles Sine and WVMetronews repoter Jack Carlson contributed to this story.