(WWJ) – Multiple families are grieving after authorities reported at least four drownings in lakes across Michigan over Memorial Day weekend.
Among the victims – ranging in ages 6 to 42 – was a 39-year-old Ohio man who was tubing with his daughter on Devil’s Lake in Lenawee County on Sunday.
The Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office said the man fell off his inner tube around 2 p.m. Officials said the man was not wearing a lifejacket and never resurfaced. His daughter was not injured.
Authorities told WWJ that his family and another family, both from Ohio, had rented cabins on the lake for a Memorial Day weekend getaway.
Later that same day, a 20-year-old man dove off a boat in Bear Lake in Manistee County, according to MLive. Officials say he began to struggle after diving off the boat and police were called.
Local boaters offered to help authorities search the area, but efforts were called off as night fell. As of Tuesday morning, his body had not been recovered.
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A 6-year-old Detroit girl was swimming near Martindale Beach on Kent Lake in Kensington Metropark on Monday when she went under water around 5:30 p.m. Authorities eventually found her unresponsive, and she was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Also on Monday a Toledo man’s body was found near Milan Beach in Monroe County.
Authorities tell WWJ an elderly Wayne County man was found in the Grand River near Jackson on Friday. Another man told police he had taken a nap in his car near a boat launch and the victim was sitting near the river at the time. When he woke up, the man was gone and he called police, who eventually found his body.
Officials said no foul play was suspected, but an official cause of death had not been determined.
There was also a close call on Lake Michigan Monday afternoon, as an Oakland County man was pulled from the water trying to save others’ lives.
Two 17-year-old Grand Rapids girls were swimming near Grand Haven when they began to struggle and people at the beach formed a human chain to try and rescue them.
The Grand Haven Public Safety Department says the people in the chain were able to get to one of the swimmers with a life ring; however, two people in the chain began struggling and needed help.
A 29-year-old man from Grand Rapids, a 42-year-old man from Oakland County and the second swimmer all had to be rescued by Ottawa County Sheriff's Department deputies.
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The Michigan DNR is sharing tips that could help save lives on Michigan waters this summer, including obeying warning signs and flags.