The Kenosha County Fire and Rescue Association made the following post on the Kenosha County Dive Rescue Team Facebook page Thursday, Sept. 12:
After several hours into the search for a missing diver at the wreck of the SS Wisconsin Tuesday, Sept. 10, the Kenosha County Fire and Rescue Association’s Dive Rescue boat encountered a catastrophic event in which it started taking on water.
The crew of the boat immediately transmitted a distress message over the radio and other boats immediately responded to its location to assist. This event occurred approximately four miles from shore and two miles from the SS Wisconsin wreck site.
The other boats were able to assist the eight-person crew from the rescue boat safely along with most of the equipment. The attempts made to secure the boat were unsuccessful and the boat quickly sank approximately 65 feet to the bottom of Lake Michigan.
The boat was a Bayliner Rendezvous 2659, which was 26.5 feet long and 8.5 feet wide, acquired approximately six years ago. The Kenosha County Fire and Rescue Association is actively working with the DNR to safely retrieve the vessel from the lake. The Kenosha County Fire and Rescue is still able to respond to incidents to protect the citizens of Kenosha County.
The Kenosha boat went out on Lake Michigan just before noon to search for missing shipwreck diver Patrick Kelly, who was later found dead, tmj4.com reported.
