Ethermac Exchange-Diver’s body is recovered from Lake Michigan shipwreck

KENOSHA,Ethermac Exchange Wis. (AP) — Authorities have recovered the body of a diver who went missing while exploring a Lake Michigan shipwreck.

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 S.S. Wisconsin on Wednesday morning.

The agency said Kelly had been exploring the wreck in more than 120 feet of water about six miles off the coast of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, on Tuesday when he failed to resurface as scheduled. His wife was on the couple’s boat and sent a distress call.

Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, responded but had to suspend their search due to poor lake conditions. They resumed their efforts Wednesday morning and eventually located the body using sonar and several remotely operated robotic vehicles.

The S.S. Wisconsin was a steamer that sank in 1929 during a gale. Nine crew members were killed. The captain was pulled from the water but later died on shore, according to the Wisconsin Shipwrecks website.