A search is under way for the daughter and a grandson of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, after a canoe they were using in the Chesapeake Bay did not return to shore.
The missing relatives were identified as Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and McKean's eight-year-old son, Gideon Joseph Kennedy McKean.
Maryland governor Larry Hogan said at a news conference on Friday that he had spoken to Kathleen Kennedy Townsend about her missing relatives.
Ms Kennedy Townsend, who served two terms as Maryland's lieutenant governor, is the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, former attorney general of the US, who was assassinated in 1968.
The search began Thursday after the state Natural Resources Police responded to a report of two people on a canoe in the Chesapeake Bay who appeared to be overtaken by strong winds.
A statement from the agency, which did not name the missing people, said they may have been paddling the canoe from a home in Shady Side, Maryland, to retrieve a ball and could not paddle back to shore.
An overturned canoe matching the one used by the missing people was found on Thursday night, the agency said.
The Maryland State Police, US Coast Guard and local police and fire departments joined the ongoing search.
