FERRYSBURG, Mich- The Coast Guard and Ottawa County Dive teams are in searching for a 47-year-old man who went swimming in Lake Michigan from a boat. It happened around 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
According to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department, a group of friends were on a 37-foot Sea-Ray traveling from Muskegon to Grand Haven, when the operator asked if anyone wanted to go for a swim and a 47-year-old man from Walker jumped in. The man jumped into the lake about three miles from the shore in about 46 feet of water. The water temperature in that part of the lake is only 64 degrees.
Due to the wind conditions on the lake, the boat separated from him quickly and the man began to struggle. The operator of the boat said he immediately hit the man overboard button and tried throwing ropes and boat cushions out to the man.
The man was not wearing a flotation device.
Divers from Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Coast Guard are using sonar and G-P-S to try and find the man.
Authorities will continue to search till dark and then start again in the morning if the man still isn’t found.
