A Winthrop Harbor man who was scuba diving to explore a shipwreck on Lake Michigan near Pleasant Prairie was found dead following a lengthy search operation.
The United States Coast Guard received a distress call around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday from a boat at the S.S. Wisconsin shipwreck regarding a scuba diver who had not returned to the surface.
The Kenosha County, Wisconsin Sheriff’s Office said numerous agencies responded to assist in the search operation, which soon became a recovery operation due to the amount of time that the diver had been missing.
The missing scuba diver was recovered around 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.
The diver was positively identified as Patrick Kelly, 72, of Winthrop Harbor.
Sheriff’s officials said Kelly had been diving the shipwreck of the S.S. Wisconsin, which is approximately six miles out from the Pleasant Prairie coastline in water over 120 feet deep.
His wife, who was on board their boat, sent out a distress call requesting immediate help after Kelly did not resurface when he was scheduled to do so.
The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department, Pleasant Prairie Fire Rescue Department, the United States Coast Guard and numerous other agencies deployed their rescue boats to the dive location after receiving the call.
Poor water conditions led to the recovery efforts on Tuesday being postponed around 5 p.m. until they resumed Wednesday morning when conditions were safer, sheriff’s officials said.
Sonar and several remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) were used which led to Kelly’s body being located approximately 125 feet below the surface on the bottom of Lake Michigan in the area of the S.S. Wisconsin.
Sheriff’s officials said recovery efforts were successful in bringing Kelly’s body back to the surface and shore.
Kenosha County Sheriff David Zoerner thanked assisting fire agencies that came from Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee and Walworth counties in Wisconsin as well as Lake, McHenry and Cook counties in Illinois.
“The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department extends our heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and the diving community who were all impacted by this tragic event,” the department said.
Those who need to talk to someone following the incident can call the Kenosha Human Development Services Crisis Line, which is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 262-657-7188.