6 Water Rescues In Great Lakes - All Wearing Life Vests
CLEVELAND (WWJ) - Separate Coast Guard rescue boatcrews rescued or assisted a total of six people in three different cases Saturday in waterways across the Great Lakes region.
One common thread among all three successful search and rescue cases — all those rescued were wearing life jackets.
The first case involved a pleasure craft that had capsized in the vicinity of Sodus Point, N.Y. All three who went into the water were reportedly wearing life jackets.
Chief Petty Officer Kyle Niemi tells WWJ about the second rescue of two women on Lake St. Clair, when they fell from a sailboat and into the water. He says they were lucky because they were wearing life jackets.
"The Coast Guard recommends that people wear their life jackets at all times ... if you are going to enter the water after a collision with another vessel or you strike a submerged object - something, if you are going to enter the water you are going to do so unexpectedly, and a life jacket won't do you much good if it's stowed under a seat or on a hook in the cabin," said Niemi.
"It's a happy ending here - the fact that the two women enter ed the water, having already donned their life jackets, we find that a testament to the fact that they had survived," said Niemi.
Another 911 call came into the Coast Guard Station Green Bay after someone witnessed a small boat capsize and one person fall into the water.
A Response Boat was sent to the scene and helped to re-right the boat and the uninjured man was able to continue his voyage.
Find out more about WATER SAFETY here.
