PARK TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Jul. 8, 2025) – The value of wearing life jackets while riding personal water craft on Lake Michigan was evident in what could have been a tragic incident on Sunday evening.
Rescue crews from the Park Township Marine Division, Holland Public Safety, and the US Coast Guard were dispatched around 8 PM to an area about a mile south of the Holland Channel on a report of two persons having fallen off of their machine and into the water. Those persons – a 22-year-old man who was piloting the craft, and his 18-year-old female passenger, both of whom were from Grand Rapids, became separated and were drifting between 100 and 200 yards from shore, with wave conditions of six to eight feet.
Before those crews arrived, a kayaker came upon the scene, and the two persons in the water hung onto the kayak before tipping it over, causing the kayaker to fall into the water as well. Rescuers used their own personal water craft with a life sled to get the three persons safely to shore, where EMS staffers evaluated them and found no serious injuries.
A Park Township firefighter who was hurt in the relief effort was taken to Holland Hospital for treatment and released. No names were disclosed as the incident remains under investigation.
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