SOUTH HAVEN, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – A 13-year-old Ann Arbor teen died on Saturday in the waters of Lake Michigan off of South Haven’s South Beach.
According to South Haven Police Chief Natalie Thompson, officers from her department and from South Haven Area Emergency Services were dispatched to the popular spot just before 12:30 PM after a number of calls to 911 about several persons struggling in the water. “Within three minutes of the call, officers were on the scene attempting to locate the individuals,” Thompson explained. A person on a paddleboard was able to rescue an adult, “but that one child was still in the water,” the Police Chief continued.
It took about 22 minutes before first responders, who were augmented by air support from the US Coast Guard, the dive team from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department, and the SHAES rescue boat, were able to locate the youngster, who was lying on the shore around 100 yards south of the South Pier, near Flag 11. There were efforts to revive the teen at the scene before he was taken to the Bronson Hospital branch in South Haven, where he was pronounced dead.
Thompson, who called the death a “drowning” in her statement to the media, added that the victim and his family had been visiting the area from Ann Arbor, and that “witnesses reported the individuals had been swimming and began to drift further away from shore and became exhausted, not able to swim back.”
A yellow cautionary flag had been displayed for all South Haven beaches at the time as wind and wave criteria changed shortly after 11 AM. The name of the victim was not immediately disclosed as the incident remains under investigation.
