Drownings up across Great Lakes in 2011, flat in Muskegon County
More people drowned in the Great Lakes in 2011 than in 2010, but Muskegon County bucked the trend.
According to a tally by the Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project, 87 people drowned in the Great Lakes in 2011, up from 74 in 2010. Of those 87 drownings, 44 were identified as occurring in Lake Michigan.
Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project CEO Bob Pratt called the year's total “tragic.” The Great Lakes Surf Rescue Project is a group of surfers who attempt to prevent drownings by educating people about the dangers of the lakes and teaching watersports enthusiasts to use equipment like surfboards as lifesaving tools.
“In 2012, we will be working hard to reduce these numbers through our water safety and surf rescue classes,” he added. “Knowledge is power.”
Muskegon County, however, saw only two drownings. That's even with 2010, when a 17-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man both drowned near Muskegon's water filtration plant in separate incidents.
In 2011, Timothy Judge, of Allendale, died in a scuba diving accident while exploring a sunken ship near White Lake Channel July 2. Pedro Contreras-Martinez, of Grand Rapids, drowned in a swimming accident at Muskegon's Kruse Park Sept. 2. The group attributed Contreras-Martinez's death to a rip current, though media reports at the time of the drowning said the cause was not yet determined.
In 2010, one man drowned at Grand Haven State Park, one died at Silver Lake State Park and two drowned near Ludington. Those locations saw no drownings in 2011, though several people drowned on the northern and southern extremes of the western Lower Peninsula.
Michigan waters had the highest numbers of victims in 2011, with 18 drownings. Illinois wasn't far behind, with 13 in the Chicago area and one in another municipality. Six people drowned in Indiana and five in Wisconsin.
The Surf Rescue Project attributed 15 of Lake Michigan's drowning deaths to rip currents, and the causes of the drownings were unknown in nine cases. Other causes included accidents while boating, sailing, canoeing and kayaking; jumping or falling from a pier or dock; walking on ice; and one case in the Chicago area, attempting to get away from police.
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