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Robert Kennedy's granddaughter and her son, eight, are feared dead after going missing.

Maeve Kennedy Townsend McKean, 40, and her son were on a boat trip in Maryland, America, when they were reported missing.

Police said an overturned canoe matching the description of the one went missing had been recovered in a bay a few miles away.

Our earlier report said the mother and son had been found dead, following US media reports, but this has not been confirmed.

They are currently both still officially missing and the search continuing.

(Image: CBS Baltimore)

Her husband David McKean confirmed his wife and son’s disappearance to the Washington Post.

He told the newspaper his wife and son “popped into a canoe to chase it down.

They just got farther out than they could handle and couldn’t get back in.”

A police statement said: "At approximately 7:00 p.m., an overturned canoe, matching the approximate description of the one which the pair were in, was located."

(Image: Getty Images for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights)

(Image: CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

A statement from Maryland's Department of Natural Resources Police shared by Governor Larry Hogan's spokesperson said police responded just before 5pm to a call of two people who "appeared to have be overtaken by the strong winds" in the Chesapeake Bay.

"The preliminary investigation revealed that the pair may have been paddling the canoe from a residence in Shady Side, MD out into the Bay to retrieve a ball and were unable to paddle back to shore," the statement said.

(Image: Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Mrs McKean is granddaughter of the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy and grandniece of the former US president John F. Kennedy (JFK), and the daughter of former lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

The tragedy comes just months after the Kennedy family also mourned the death of 22-year-old Saoirse Kennedy Hill who died of a suspected drug overdose.

The most famous tragedy to hit the Kennedy family is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - who was shot in November 1963 during a visit to Dallas, Texas, aged just 46.