CHICAGO (AP) — Two people were rescued from Lake Michigan on Sunday after their boat capsized miles from Chicago’s shoreline, and the U.S. Coast Guard said crews are searching for as many as four other people.
Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Levi Read said rescuers aren’t sure how many people they’re searching for, in large part because of conflicting information they received from the first boater who was rescued by a fisherman around 6:15 a.m. Sunday. A second person was pulled from the 60-degree water hours later.
The first man is in such a “hypothermic state,” Read said, that it is hard to tell whether there were four or six people aboard the 30-foot boat that capsized about five to seven miles from shore Saturday night.
“Because of his state, he’s changed his story several times during questioning and while he was getting medical care,” Read said. “As a precaution we’re searching for more, rather than less.”
The boat was traveling between New Buffalo, Michigan, and the Chicago area.
“Apparently something happened really fast and they either didn’t have a radio or their radio was broken,” Read said.
Both rescued boaters are in critical condition.
Ron Dornecker, head of Chicago Fire Department Marine and Dive operations, said crews were searching for two other victims about six miles from the 31st Street Harbor.
“We’re searching a very large area out there,” Dornecker said. “When the people did enter the water last night, they were separated. It was nighttime. They could be, at this point, miles apart.”
He warned that the boaters were in “very cold water,” but said all still in the water are believed to be wearing flotation devices.
The search includes helicopters and an airplane, as well as boats.
