Recovery efforts continue in apparent drowning on village of Summit lake
SUMMIT - A day after a man and two children fell out of kayak on Lower Nemahbin Lake, divers have continued their efforts to find the missing man who presumably drowned Tuesday.
The Waukesha County Sheriff's Office Dive Team was conducting the search in the village of Summit late Wednesday morning as village police began the formal investigation into the incident, which occurred at about 6 p.m. Tuesday.
According to a tweet by Waukesha Alerts based on scanner information, rescuers were sent to the 1400 block of Sugar Island Road, which runs along the lake, after witnesses reported that a man in his 50s who doesn’t know how to swim fell into the lake.
According to various reports, including a Facebook post by the Western Lakes Fire District, three people were in a kayak when it flipped, spilling all of them into the lake. Both children were able to stay afloat, grasping the overturned kayak, and calling for help, witnesses said. The man, who has not been identified, went under the surface and was not seen re-emerging.
The Western Lakes Fire District was the first called to the scene, deploying a marine unit with assistance from a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation warden boat. Divers from both WLFD and Lake Country Fire and Rescue, aided by boats with sonar capabilities, began the search for the missing man. Drones were also used.
But the man was not immediately located, prompting officials to transition from rescue efforts to recovery, which assumes a drowning has occurred and searches deeper. The county's dive team was called in and continued their search for several hours, with no success. The search resumed early Wednesday.
Summit police officials said they were overwhelmed with calls from people, including media, seeking information on the apparent drowning. To alleviate the call volume, officials set up a staging area at the park-and-ride lot off the Sawyer Road exit of Interstate 94, where a news conference was expected to take place at some point. Authorities said they are uncertain when that would happen.
This story will be updated as information becomes available.
Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dive teams search Lower Nemahbin Lake for man who presumably drowned
