WOOD DALE, Ill. (WLS) — Search crews resumed their recover efforts Wednesday looking for that man who went missing in a reservoir in Wood Dale.
The DuPage County Forest Preserve Police reported receiving a 911 call around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday regarding a man who purportedly went for a swim in the Wood Dale-Itasca reservoir and did not reappear.
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The swimmer’s family arrived on the scene Wednesday morning and are devastated by his disappearance.
“It’s so devastating,” Celia Hernandez, sister of the missing swimmer, said. “We couldn’t take care of her son.”
Hernandez finds herself at a loss for words as search teams comb the Wood Dale-Itasca Reservoir for her 52-year-old brother, Hipolito Hernandez, whom the family calls ‘Polo.’
Hernandez said the father of five lived in nearby Bensenville.
“He loved entering ponds,” Celia Hernandez stated. “He would drink, then go in, you know…We just lost our mother a month and a half ago. He was her primary caregiver.”
Hernandez said her brother was at the murky reservoir with his girlfriend at the time he went underwater and never resurfaced early Tuesday evening.
“He was wading into the water, and she suddenly saw him going deeper until he started descending,” Celia Hernandez explained. “That’s when she called 911.”
Emergency responders from neighboring suburbs arrived swiftly at the location, undertaking a search for Hernandez prior to the mission officially transitioning to a recovery effort.
Hours later, crews are using drones, boats and a cadaver dog to find the man.
“I thought he was fishing,” Laura Susmarski, who saw the swimmer go in the water. “We have a lot of fishers that fish in there.”
Neighbor Susmarski says she saw Hernandez get in the water with a reassurance she says from the man’s girlfriend.
“His girlfriend believed he would be okay,” Susmarski remarked. “Then I heard him calling for her to join him swimming, but she refused. After that, I no longer heard him calling for her. That’s when I heard the sirens blaring.”
Family is anxiously waiting nearby for any news about a possible discovery as the search for Hernandez continues.
Swimming is not allowed in the reservoir.
According to the police chief the reservoir is intended for storm and retention from Salt Creek.
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