POTOMAC, Md. – Authorities say a teenager who deliberately jumped into the swift-flowing Potomac River near the nation's capital has been rescued after a near-drowning in treacherous currents.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue spokesman Pete Piringer told news outlets the Virginia teen entered the water Sunday near Great Falls National Park in Maryland and was carried about a mile (1.6 kilometers) downstream, at times dragged under.
The spokesman says a Swift Water Rescue team found the teen clinging to rocks and in distress on the Virginia side of the river. The teen was hospitalized in serious condition, but Piringer says the injuries aren't life-threatening.
He says the teen is "very lucky that he survived" in deceptively strong, cold currents where many have drowned in past years.
Swimming is prohibited in the area.
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