PARK TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, July 16, 2023) – A total of eight persons had to be rescued from the waters of Lake Michigan south of the Big Red Lighthouse on Sunday afternoon.
According to Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sergeant Jon Smoes, central dispatch was notified around 2:40 PM that three persons were floundering off of the shore line near Lakeside Road and Interlake Walk, and five others that waded in to try and rescue them also became caught up in the same difficulties. Six of the eight were eventually assisted out of the water by “citizens on jet skies and paddle boards,” Smoes said in a department statement, with the other two pulled out by the Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol. All eight were accounted for, and none of them wanted any medical help at the scene.
Crews from the Park Township Fire Department and the Holland Department of Public Safety were also on hand during this incident. Smoes didn’t say how far out into the lake the eight persons were, or any other circumstances that led to the necessity of a rescue effort.
