A woman died and six other people were rescued after a boat hit a breakwall near the “Playpen” off Oak Street Beach during a sharp burst of wind and high waves early Friday morning, fire officials said.
“About 3 a.m. we had a huge increase in wind and wave activity,” Deputy District Fire Chief Jason Lach during a news briefing. Wind gusts up to 30 mph were recorded.
“It made rescue and recovery efforts a lot more difficult,’’ Lach said.
The group was returning to shore when the boat hit the breakwall off the 600 - 800 block of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive, according to Lach and Chicago Fire Department Chief Juan Hernandez.
A woman, about 20, became trapped under the boat and did not survive, officials said. Six others were rescued, including one person who swam to shore.
One of the six was in serious condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital while the others were in fair to serious condition, Hernandez said. Four of the victims were taken to Northwestern and two women were taken to Stroger Hospital. All were between the ages of 20-30.
Police marine unit divers initially were not able to recover the woman’s body because of dangerous conditions, including high waves, a marine officer said. Divers spotted her “pinned” under the 31-foot craft, about 200 yards “due northeast of the Jardine Water Plant,” the marine officer said.
While crews were responding to incident, the badly decomposed body of a man was spotted near Navy Pier.
“A fisherman called about 8:30 a.m.,” the officer said. The body was pulled from the lake near Dime Pier between the Chicago locks and Navy Pier.
“It was definitely not from this incident because of the time and travel from where it was at,” and because of its condition, Lach said.
Lach urged boaters to use caution. “Anybody operating a boat, you need to know your navigational hazards,” he said. “Make sure you have life preservers on board for everybody.”
