PORTAGE — A 7-year-old boy from Chicago has died after drowning in Lake Michigan while a beach hazard was in effect.
At 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, the Porter County 911 Center received a report of a child missing in Lake Michigan near the Portage Lakefront and Riverfront Beach. This is about 150 miles north of Indianapolis.
Upon arrival, emergency responders located the child in the water near Ogden Dunes at 5:11 p.m.
The child was transported to the hospital, where he later died. His death has been ruled an accidental drowning.
According to investigators, the boy was playing in waist-deep water before entering deeper water.
A witness says the child was caught in a current that pulled him away from shore. One of his family members attempted to save him but was also caught in the current.
A beach hazard statement from the National Weather Service was in effect at the time of the incident.
The identity of the boy is being withheld until the family is notified.
