KENOSHA, Wis. – Authorities have found the body of a diver who went missing while exploring a shipwreck on Lake Michigan.
The Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release that authorities recovered the body of 72-year-old Patrick Kelly of Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, from the area around the SS Wisconsin on Wednesday morning.
The agency said Kelly had been exploring the wreckage in more than 120 feet of water about six miles off the coast of Pleasant Prairie, Wis., on Tuesday when he failed to resurface as planned. His wife was on the couple’s boat and sent a distress call.
Several agencies, including the US Coast Guard, responded but had to call off their search due to poor sea conditions. They resumed their efforts Wednesday morning and eventually found the body using sonar and several remote-controlled robotic vehicles.
The SS Wisconsin was a steamship that sank in 1929 during a storm. Nine crew members were killed. The captain was pulled from the water but later died on shore, according to the Wisconsin Shipwreck website.