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Two teens rescued on Lake Erie near Shrewsbury
Members of the Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) under the direction of Acting Sergeant Tamminga responded to the village of Shrewsbury around 4:30 a.m. today (Feb. 6) after the OPP Provincial Communications Centre received a 911 call from two teenage males.
The males called police on their cell phone after the duck-blind they were using began drifting out into Lake Erie.
OPP responded to Shrewsbury and contacted the Coast Guard for assistance after learning that both teenage men had no lifejackets nor means to navigate the raft back to shore. Upon police arrival the two had drifted far from shore into Lake Erie, and were no longer visible.
The United States Coast Guard responded to the request for assistance and located both the youths approximately three kilometres off shore.
With the assistance of a Coast Guard diver, both youths were lifted from the water into a hovering helicopter and transported to the Chatham airport.
An awaiting ambulance transported them to Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Hospital where they were being treated for the effects of hypothermia.
The OPP again remind all citizens venturing on or near bodies of water to always think safety.
In this instance, the boys are lucky to be alive as neither had a life-jacket, protective water suits or any means other than their cell-phone to call for help. Police remind everyone that water/ice conditions are dangerous this time of year especially with the freezing water temperatures. Hypothermia can and often does lead to serious injury or death.
South Kent Voter
February 6, 2012 at 11:28 pm
It sounds like they may have drifted inside the boundary of Rondeau Provincial Park. If they did, I hope the Superintendent brings the full weight of the Provincial Parks & Conservation Reserves Act down upon them. Entry into Rondeau Provincial Park is absolutely PROHIBITED unless entrance is gained through the main park gate, using either a day-use permit or a seasonal permit. The Parks Act does not make an exception for boys whose ice flow or hunting blind or whatever it was drifted inside the park boundary in the middle of night, in the middle of winter. If the helicopter plucked them from provincial park waters they must be charged & tried in court and forced to pay the minimum fine of $55 for entering the park by unauthorized means. They must also be trespassed from the park for a period of 72 hours. The diver who jumped into save them is liable as well. Such are the rules of Rondeau.