Search resumes for Mount Prospect, Elk Grove men missing in Lake Michigan
Indiana officials hoped that favorable weather conditions Sunday would assist in the ongoing search for two Northwest suburban boaters who went missing Friday in Lake Michigan.
A third boater was rescued and treated at a hospital.
“Today is the best weather and wave and wind conditions we've had since the incident happened,” Indiana Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Alex Neel said.
The missing men, one from Mount Prospect and the other Elk Grove Village, were among 12 people from the Northwest suburbs aboard a boat Friday afternoon about 1 to 1 ⅟₂ miles offshore from Whiting, officials say.
A little after 2:30 p.m., a man jumped into the water to swim and cool down, Neel said. Because of the wind and the waves, he began to struggle in the water.
Those in the boat tried to move the craft closer so he could get back in, but were unable due to weather conditions, Neel said.
At that point, a second man jumped into the water to help, but he also began to struggle, officials say. Neither were wearing life jackets, according to Neel.
A third person put on a life jacket and jumped into the water trying to help, but could not reach the struggling men, he added.
The two men who weren’t wearing life jackets were last seen sinking below the surface of the water, Neel said. The man wearing the life jacket drifted away from the boat.
The Indiana DNR’s Division of Law Enforcement responded, along with the Lake County, Indiana Marine Unit, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Hammond Fire Department were called and conducted a search involving boats and a helicopter.
“By the time we located the boat, it was about 2⅟₂ miles offshore,” Neel said.
The person with the life jacket was located at about 4:30 p.m. He was taken to an area hospital and treated for mild hypothermia before being released, Neel said.
“The big struggle that we’ve had is just the vastness of the search area,” Neel said, noting that because the boat had been drifting through the lake, searchers did not have a good idea of where the two missing men were last seen, he said.