U. of C. student rescued from lake

A University of Chicago student was unaware he was on Lake Michigan when he was rescued about a quarter mile from shore Friday morning near the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side, officials said.

Chicago Fire Department crews responded to a 911 call just after 7 a.m. along the lakeshore, near Promontory Point.

When the dive unit, fire boat, a helicopter and several ground units arrived, they saw the man walking on the lake about a quarter mile out, said Larry Langford, Fire Department spokesman.

The man seemed surprised and anxious to see rescuers approach him, Langford said.

“When they got within distance to be able to speak with him. That’s when there was a language barrier but he understood enough of what they were saying,” Langford said. “And it was communicated that he had no idea he was on the ice. He thought he was on ground.”

Rescuers told the man he was on the lake and in a dangerous situation as the thickness of the ice varies, Langford said. University of Chicago officials confirmed the man is a student and is not from Chicago.

Rescuers shuffled over to the man, told him to stand still and got him into a yellow boat. After attaching a rope to the boat, they “slid” him back to shore safely, Langford said.

The man was checked out by paramedics at the scene and was not injured.

Langford said it was hard to see where the ground ends and the lake begins after a heavy snowfall, especially for people not familiar with the area.

But it’s also hard to determine the thickness of ice on the lake as water continues to move below, Langford said. If someone were to fall in, they could easily slip under the ice, get trapped and drown.

Even if they don’t end up under the ice, the water’s freezing temperatures would weaken a person within minutes, making it near impossible for them to pull themselves back up, Langford said.

“We want people to stay off the ice because even a few feet off the shore ice is dangerous,” Langford said. “If you fall in that temperature, shock can take your strength and trap you and kill you.”