Fisherman drowns in Fox River
A 76-year-old Chicago man drowned Monday morning after a boat he and two others rented to go fishing tipped over at a dam on the Fox River in unincorporated McHenry County, officials said.
The two others in the boat escaped unharmed, said Mike Majercik, assistant fire chief for the McHenry County Fire Protection District.
Majercik said the non-motorized boat got caught in the swift current and pushed under the dam gate and into the spillway.
Marcelyn Love, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resouces, said the incident occurred about 9:45 a.m.
"The boat did capsize. They were all taken in out of the water by onlookers," she said.
One man -- the only one not wearing a lifejacket -- stopped on the spillway and eventually was pulled out by people in a rowboat.
Another man also was pulled out of the water by the folks in the rowboat after he grabbed onto a tree branch near an island in the river, Majercik said.
Majercik said witnesses told him the lifejacket on the third man, who ended up drowning, somehow came off.
He eventually was pulled to shore by onlookers and given CPR to no avail.
"The witnesses said the other man had a lifejacket, but if popped off," Majercik said. "We're guessing it wasn't secured, but we can't verify that, obviously."
Rescue personnel were called at 10:16 a.m.
The man later was pronounced dead at the Northern Illinois Medical Center; the two other victims, both believed to be in their 50s or older, were unharmed and refused medical treatment.
"There was no rescue involved for us. Everybody was out of the water when we got there," Majercik said, noting crews from the Illinois Conservation Police and McHenry County sheriff's police also responded to the scene.
The McHenry County coroner's office could not be reached to comment on the identity of the victim.
Fire and hospital officials also declined to comment, citing privacy laws.
Majercik said the three men planned to fish near the William G. Stratton Lock and had rented a small boat from a nearby shop.
The lower portion of the Fox River has been closed to all boat traffic for a week.
Monday morning, officials announced the upper portion of the river -- north of the dam -- was closed to all boat traffic because of dangerous conditions.
"All circumstances surrounding the incident are part of the investigation," Love said.
No one answered the phone Monday at a bait shop along the river and near the dam that rents 14-foot rowboats.