Rescuers pulled a 42-year-old man from a lake in unincorporated Round Lake Saturday morning after the man nearly drowned while trying to retrieve his canoe that floated away.
The Grayslake Fire Protection District and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 8:15 a.m. Saturday to the 34400 block of North Circle Drive in unincorporated Round Lake.
Lake County Sheriff Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said authorities received a call of a 42-year-old Chicago man who went into Highland Lake but did not resurface.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and learned the 42-year-old man was going to take a canoe to the middle of the lake.
“Before he could get inside the canoe, the canoe started floating away from a pier he was launching from,” Covelli said.
The man jumped into the water to try and retrieve the canoe, but he did not resurface after going in. The man was not wearing a life vest.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was activated to the second alarm level, bringing dozens of fire departments from across Lake and McHenry counties to the scene.
Divers located the man unconscious in the water and brought him to shore.
An ambulance transported him to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville in critical condition.
Covelli said foul play is not suspected but sheriff’s detectives are investigating the incident.