A 16-year-old boy died after he was pulled from Lake Michigan Monday morning, Chicago police and fire officials said.
The boy and a 16-year-old girl took a raft out onto the lake from Montrose Beach about 9 a.m. At some point, the raft flipped over. The girl was pulled to shore by someone on the beach, according to police.
Not long after, Chicago Fire Department rescuers in a helicopter spotted the boy underwater several hundred feet from the shore, said CFD spokesman Larry Langford. Two divers were dropped into the water and brought the boy to shore, where they started CPR.
He was taken to Weiss Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead, Langford said. The girl did not need medical attention.
“The most important thing out on the water, even if you’re going to be close to shore, make sure you’re wearing a personal flotation device,” Langford said. “People seem to think that they’re so close to shore, they can just swim in. But they misjudge the distance and the effort it takes to swim through the current.”
Whether on a boat, personal watercraft or a raft, wear a life jacket and make sure it’s properly secured and tight, Langford said.
“So that way if you go in, we are able to just pluck you out,” he said.