DEM investigating after a Cumberland woman was killed in kayaking incident
NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (WLNE) – The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) Division of Law Enforcement is investigating a fatal kayaking incident that happened on Friday morning in Narragansett.
On Monday, the DEM identified the victim as 61-year-old Vickie Mederios. Authorities say the second kayaker was 56-year-old Regina Treweek. Both women are from Cumberland.
The incident happened around 8:15 a.m. on Friday morning.
According to the DEM, the two women launched their kayaks from the Sprague Bridge area and headed downriver. Once the women went past the sand spit and into the surf zone, they attempted to turn around and paddle back up the river.
Treweek was ahead, and when she turned around she noticed Mederios’s kayak had flipped over.
The DEM says rough surf at the mouth of Narrow River played a major role in Mederios’s kayak flipping over.
The Narragansett Fire Department assisted in the response, search, and rescue. The department transported both women to South County Hospital where Mederios was pronounced dead.
Treweek was treated for hypothermia.
The incident is being investigated by the DEM Division of Law Enforcement.
©WLNE-TV/ABC6 2020
