Macomb Township

Coast Guard pulls men, children from Lake Huron

By Robert Guttersohn
C & G Staff Writer

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued two Macomb Township men and two children early July 10 from Lake Huron after they spent 14 hours in the water, according to a press release.

The Coast Guard said the two Macomb men, ages 35 and 40, borrowed an 18-foot fishing boat from a friend in the morning of July 9 and told the friend they expected to be back later that day.

The boat capsized that evening, sending the two men and two children, a 12-year-old boy from Midland and a 10-year-old boy from Linden, into the water, the press release said.

All four were wearing lifejackets, the Coast Guard said.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Levi Read, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, said they are not releasing the names of those rescued.

Read said one of the men was the father of one of the boys, and one of the boys was the grandson of the boat’s owner. The second man was a friend of the father.

When the four had not returned by the evening of July 9, the boat’s owner called the Coast Guard, the release said.

The boat capsized about five miles southwest of Au Gres, a coastal city near Saginaw Bay, Read said. Read said the father attempted to swim to shore, something he should not have done.

“That was not a good thing,” Read said. “One thing the Coast Guard is trying to stress here is that if boaters are in this situation — boat capsizes and they are stranded in the water — stay as a group and stay with the boat.”

He said it is much easier for rescuers to spot a group of people or a vessel rather than one man.

The father did not make it to shore but was found alive an hour after the three others, Read said. All four declined medical attention, the press release said. The cause of the boat capsizing is still under investigation.

Read said those aboard the fishing ship did do some things correctly, such as wearing lifejackets and having a float plan, which Read explained is telling someone on land approximately where you’ll be boating and what time you’ll return.

“We had a general idea of where they’d be,” Read said.

“The search-and-rescue efforts of the search party were greatly assisted by the quick response of the vessel’s owner and the filing of a float plan,” said Lt. Justin Westmiller, command center supervisor and search-and-rescue mission coordinator at Sector Detroit, in a statement.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Robert Guttersohn at rguttersohn@candgnews.com or at (586)218-5006.