Seven Rescued After Gurnee Charter Sinks In Lake Michigan

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May 30th, 2008

WAUKEGAN--Seven people aboard a charter fishing boat that sank during stormy weather Friday morning were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after spending about 30 minutes in the water.

All seven are in area hospitals in “serious†condition due to hypothermia, according to Beach Park Fire Chief Paul Tierney.

“The Coast Guard are the heroes of the day,†Tierney said. “If not for the Coast Guard helicopter and boat, there would have been seven people lost in the lake today.â€

After receiving a mayday just after 11:30 a.m. from the captain of the 36-foot-boat off shore between Waukegan Harbor and Naval Station Great Lakes, the Coast Guard’s Kenosha Station dispatched a boat and called in a helicopter to the area, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer Brant Trost.

Trost said the helicopter crew located the boaters and transported five of them to Waukegan Regional Airport, while the boat transported the other two to the Waukegan Yacht Club.

Tierney said the boat went down about three miles off shore and that he was told that by the time the helicopter arrived at the scene, coolers and debris were floating on the water but the boat had sunk.

The captain of the charter had contacted the Coast Guard and distributed life vests, Tierney said. The vests worn by those rescued identified the vessel as the Fin Seeker, a charter fishing boat out of Gurnee.

At the Yacht Club, the Waukegan Fire Department transported two of those rescued to Vista West in Waukegan, officials said.

Of the five boaters taken to Waukegan Airport, one was taken to Vista West, two were transported to Condell and two were taken to Lake Forest Hospital with Beach Park, Zion and Gurnee rescue squads participating, Tierney said.

“It was a very coordinated effort by all of the fire agencies and the Coast Guard,†Tierney said.

“They were very lucky,†said Waukegan Fire Deputy Chief Dan Young

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WTG CG. They truly are heroes.