Two bodies recovered on Lake Erie

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for two missing Lake Erie anglers on June 5 after the recovery of one body off Fairport Harbor.

The second body was found “by a good Samaritan” on June 6, also within the search area, said a Coast Guard spokeswoman.

The victim’s names have not yet been released.

The spokeswoman – Petty Officer Second Class Lauren Steenson – said that on June 6 the cessation of the search and rescue operations was instructed about 8:50 p.m., June 5, following an intensive operation.

Steenson said the search included the use of a helicopter from the Coast Guard’s Air Station Detroit, a 45-foot response boat operating out of the Coast Guard’s Station Fairport Harbor, a helicopter from the Canadian Air Force’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Trenton, Ontario, as well as elements with the Ohio DNR’s Division of Parks and Watercraft.

A report was received about 11 a.m., June 4 of an overturned vessel located about four miles north of Fairport Harbor in Lake Erie, Steenson said.

Responding, the Coast Guard found the vessel with the only passenger being a dog that was huddling in the boat’s hold, Steenson said.

Using the boat’s Ohio registration numbers, the Coast Guard contacted a woman at the residence of the boat’s owner.

The woman said her husband and son had gone fishing in Lake Erie on June 3 but had not returned, Steenson said.

Steenson said the father’s body was recovered June 5 near Fairport Harbor and the son’s body on June 6 by a “good Samaritan.”

Also, said Steenson, the Coast Guard and the Ohio Parks and Watercraft agency jointly worked to recover the submerged pleasure craft.