A 41-year-old male went missing swimming at Lighthouse Beach on June 30, and a body discovered about two miles off of Dempster Street Beach potentially matches the man’s description, according to a City of Evanston press release.
After two days of recovery search and rescue and several following days of searching for any signs of the swimmer, a fishing charter discovered a body on Saturday morning and immediately contacted the Coast Guard to investigate it.
The Evanston Fire Department responded and successfully recovered the body from the water.
The Evanston Police Department and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office are now working to confirm the identification of the body recovered. According to the press release, the city will update as further information becomes available.
On that day, four swimmers were struggling in the water, according to an EFD news release. It stated that a community member rescued three of the swimmers — one adult female and two female teenagers. The fourth swimmer, who went missing was the 41-year-old male. One of the teenagers was transported to a hospital in the area where she was treated and released.
EFD stated they made the difficult decision to end the recovery efforts in the late afternoon on July 1 “after exhausting all areas of search utilizing predictive modeling and diver experience,” a news release stated.
Surface and shoreline search efforts were then employed.
On Sunday shortly after the call, the Evanston Police Department also sent personnel to Lighthouse Beach, according to a 4:40 p.m. EPD post on X.
The search and rescue operation was a large collaborative effort between EPD, Evanston Fire Department, Chicago Fire Department, Coast Guard and Wilmette Fire Department. The Chicago Fire Department also sent a helicopter to the scene and the EFD deployed a drone, according to EPD’s following posts.
EFD stated in its news release that the search used resources like rescue divers, helicopters, drones and more.
The news release also noted that the beach was under a red flag alert Sunday, which means water conditions are dangerous, swimming is not permitted and lifeguards are not on duty.
EFD reminded beachgoers to observe signs and flags attentively and exercise caution when using beaches.
“Rip currents are dangerous and not always obvious, so please adhere to beachfront safety guidelines and the flag system to stay safe,” the news release stated.
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