A 49-year-old man swimming on Petite Lake near Lake Villa was rescued by his friends Friday evening and later died at the hospital, police said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit and Patrol Deputies along with the Lake Villa Fire Protection District responded around 5:45 p.m. Friday to the 38800 block of North Cedar Crest Drive in unincorporated Lake Villa.
Authorities received a 911 call of an unconscious person who had gone under the water while swimming near the sandbar on Petite Lake, according to Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli said.
Sheriff Marine Unit deputies arrived at the scene first and found the 49-year-old man’s friends performing CPR on him.
The Marine Unit deployed an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and attempted to shock the man’s heart back to rhythm and render aid until paramedics arrived.
A preliminary investigation shows the man, who is a Round Lake Beach resident, had been at the sandbar for approximately two hours.
“All of a sudden, his friends could not locate the man and they began searching in the area where he was last seen,” Covelli said.
They found the man unconscious under the water near their boat. They immediately removed the man from the water, administered CPR and boated him to shore.
Paramedics transported the man to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville where he was later pronounced dead.
Sheriff’s deputies found no immediate signs of trauma or foul play, Covelli said.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office responded to the hospital and is in the process of scheduling an autopsy.
The incident remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lake County Coroner’s Office.