Body of missing swimmer found off shore in Grand Haven

Rescue crews have found the body of a 21-year-old man who went missing while swimming off the shore in Grand Haven earlier Sunday.

The discovery capped off an hours-long effort to locate the swimmer, who was swept away from shore at Grand Haven State Park just before 4 p.m. 

Members of the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety and the State Park Rangers went into the lake to look for the lost swimmer, but the rescue effort failed to find the man. 

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They were later joined by the Grand Haven Township Fire Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Sheriffs Office in Ottawa County. The Coast Guard reportedly dropped a rescue swimmer into the water as part of the effort.

According to a press release from the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety, at one point, first responders and beachgoers organized human chains, which made multiple attempts to find the missing person over the course of the afternoon.  

The man’s body eventually was located around 6 p.m. by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The Grand Haven Department of Public Safety has not released the swimmer’s name while in the process of notifying family.

This weekend’s incident comes after the July 14 drowning deaths in South Haven of a 7-year-old boy and the 33-year-old Ohio man who drowned trying to save him. 

More than 60 drownings have been reported in the Great Lakes so far in 2022, according to data reported by the Detroit News. In recent years, the highest number of deaths was recorded in 2018, when there were 117 drownings reported.

The deadliest month in 2022 so far has been March, when 19 people drowned. June followed with 16 deaths. As of July 24, there were 12 deaths that month.

Of all five Great Lakes, Lake Michigan has been the deadliest, in part because of the number of people who frequent the beaches. This year, 28 people have died there. 

In Michigan, half of the reported deaths were in southwest Michigan, with two each near South Haven and Warren Dunes State Park. Two others were near Bay City, while the remaining deaths happened near Muskegon on the western part of the state, according to the Great Lakes Rescue Project.