Two Missing On Lake Winnebago
30 March 2021 News
Missing Canoeists Update
Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt gave an update Tuesday morning on the search for two people missing since their canoe capsized on Lake Winnebago about a mile north of Lakeside Park West. Waldschmidt says searchers found the canoe and some personal items, but not the two people they were looking for. The two are in their twenties and are from the Fond du Lac area. One of them called the County Communications Center Monday night when strong winds and high waves were prevalent on the lake. A few minutes later the cell phone signal was lost. The water temperature at the time was about 42 degrees.
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Fond du Lac County authorities are searching Lake Winnebago for two people whose canoe was overwhelmed by high winds and waves Monday night putting them into the water. They did not have life preservers. One of them was able to call the County Communications Center on a cell phone and they were located a mile north of the Fond du Lac River, straight north of Lakeside Park West. After the two fell into water the call continues for several minutes before it disconnected. Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt says efforts to rescue them were hampered by sustained south winds of 25 miles an hour gusting to 40 miles an hour, 42 degree water temperatures, waves of four to five feet, and low Lake Winnebago water levels that caused the rescue boat to strike bottom numerous times. After a five hour search the search switched over early this morning to an air search with the use of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter out of Traverse City, Michigan. Additional vessels and aircraft will continue the search today.
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