Woman Rescued from Schuylkill River in Phoenixville

A woman’s screams coming from the fast moving Schuylkill River prompted several calls to rescue personnel shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Fire Chief William Kasper of Oaks Fire Department said the woman, who was not identified, was kayaking with her husband and a child. She was in a single-person kayak.

“She lost her paddle,” Kasper said. “So she lost control of the kayak.”

Emergency personnel from Oaks, Mont Clare, Friendship Fire in Phoenixville, West End ambulance, Friendship Fire in Royersford and Valley Forge Fire Company responded.

The initial dispatch was to Canal Street and Port Providence Road.

“They heard her yelling for help at the Fitzwater [Station restaurant],” Kasper said.

Emergency personnel then relocated to Lock 60 in Port Providence.

A kayak was pulled out of the Schuylkill River near Lock 60, and the woman was located by personnel from Valley Forge Fire Company. She was clinging to a tree. She had drifted down near South Second Avenue in Phoenixville, on the Chester County side of the river.

She was rescued by Phoenixville Fire Company’s dive team, Kasper said.

The woman was not injured.

A towpath to the canal was blocked for more than an hour as rescue personnel worked to locate the woman.