CHICAGO — Two people drowned, with a presumed third drowning and a fourth incident likely prevented by good Samaritans on the waters of Lake Michigan since Saturday.
Witnesses described the actions of several individuals who sprung into action when it became clear that a pair of swimmers were in trouble. Traimon Brown said the male swimmer looked distressed as his arms rose straight.
“We pulled him out first, but all of his back was scratched up,” Brown said.
Once bystanders helped the female swimmer out of the water, Brown says he performed chest compressions, eventually helping her breathe.
In a press release Monday, the Chicago Fire Department praised Brown and other citizen’s life-saving efforts in the non-swimming area of Montrose Harbor.
“We’re in a city that cares,” Brown said. “We’re in a city that understands that not everyone can swim, but they want to get in the water.”
The close call at Montrose Harbor Monday afternoon was all the more alarming after a tragic occurrence at Montrose Beach that left a 16-year-old male dead. The teen disappeared under the waters around 9:10 a.m.
Chicago Fire Department divers pulled the unconscious teen out of the frigid water. Emergency response crews rushed the 16-year-old male to nearby Weiss Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Montrose Beach swimmer Maureen Murphy told NewsNation local affiliate WGN News she was saddened to hear the news, adding that Lake Michigan waters can be treacherous.
“It’s got currents, it’s got waves, it’s got an undertow, and anyone who doesn’t respect the water is kind of leaving him or herself open for trouble,” Murphy said.
One day earlier, two women in Evanston set sail in a small boat, but it capsized north of Winnetka for unknown reasons. One of the boaters, who investigators say was wearing a safety vest, managed to get to shore at Tower Row Beach to call 911 after about a two-mile swim. A search-and-rescue operation turned into a recovery mission, however, when a Chicago fire helicopter spotted the woman’s body around 7 a.m.
The drowning and near-drowning incidents have prompted concern from Dave Benjamin with the non-profit Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project.
“Warm weather is here and unfortunately, drowning season has begun,” Benjamin told WGN News in a phone interview. “People who know how to swim are more likely to have a drowning incident than people who don’t know how to swim because they will spend more time in water and overestimate their abilities in the water and if they think they’re young children know how to swim, they get less supervision.”
A day earlier, a tragic incident in Chicago’s so-called “Playpen” near Oak Steet Beach presumably claimed the life of a 58-year-old man who witnesses say fell off the boat. Crews searched all weekend long amid what authorities described as a recovery operation.
