DC Fire and EMS (FEMS) rescued a man from the C&O Canal early Wednesday morning and transported him to George Washington University hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to Lon Walls, a DC Fire and EMS spokesman.

FEMS received a call just after 7 a.m. and had to perform a water rescue for a man who was bleeding said Walls. Because it was a water rescue, Walls said the man was also likely having a hard time breathing; he had priority-1 life threatening injuries.

Area residents reported that the towpath along the canal was closed and several EMS personnel were involved in the rescue operation.

Neither FEMS or Park Police had any additional information on the man or how he came to be in the canal.

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