When additional EMS units were sent to help in the search for three men who had fallen off a boat into the Potomac River earlier this month, they were initially given an address that was more than four miles from the actual scene.
D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications said in a statement Sunday that 911 operators initially directed the additional units to the Anacostia Community Boathouse, in Southeast, for the reported boat collision, instead of the Capital Cove Marina, in Southwest. Rescue officials already on the scene noticed the error and the additional units were then directed to the correct marina.
The Office of Unified Communications said in its statement that Fire and EMS fireboats and the police department’s harbor division had been on the scene for 15 minutes when they asked for more units.
“FEMS requested that additional resources be sent to the Capital Cove Marina at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling,” the statement said. “In error, the additional resources were dispatched to the Anacostia Marina instead. The dispatcher continued to monitor the incident and subsequently corrected the dispatch location to the Capital Cove Marina. The incident is under investigation.”
Mustafa Haidar, 26, Ahmad “Johnny” Noory, 28, and Omid Rabani, 23, fell off the boat into the water on Aug. 2. Their bodies were found a few days later.
The incident with the Office of Unified Communications was first reported by STATter911.com.
