SOUTH HAVEN, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) — Matthew Dey was on mid-afternoon rounds Tuesday for South Haven Area Emergency Services, check beach flags and pier life rings, when he spotted a capsized canoe and people in the Black River channel.
Dey is now credited for quickly responding to rescue everyone who’d been in that canoe: two adults and a three-year-old child.
All those rescued had been wearing personal flotation devices. Dey threw a life ring to the the man in the water, pulling him and the child to a safety ladder to help people get out of the channel. He tossed a second life ring to the woman in the water and got her to the ladder. The family’s rented canoe and personal belongings were also recovered. The adults told Dey they were paddling in the channel when wave caused the canoe to capsize.
No one was physically hurt.
Searchers are still trying to recover the body of a Lansing man in his 20s who disappeared into Lake Michigan off South Haven’s north beach late Sunday.
Two people have drowned in Lake Michigan drownings near South Haven’s shoreline so far this summer. SHAES officials have also responded to multiple water-related distress calls.
