BETHEL — Authorities say a 75-year-old woman from Maryland drowned in the Androscoggin River when the canoe she was in overturned and she became trapped beneath it.
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said the accident that killed Xiaolian Ding of Silver Spring happened at about 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the vicinity of Bethel.
The department said Ding and her husband and daughter had rented a canoe in Bethel and were just starting their trip when the canoe got wedged on a rock.
The department says the canoe overturned when the husband and daughter tried to push the canoe off the rock. They were able to get Ding to shore while a witness called 911, but first responders were unable to revive Ding.
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