PORTER, Ind. () — A search on Lake Michigan was called off Thursday evening after emergency responders spent hours looking for a boat believed to have issued a mayday call, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Officials said the response centered roughly 2 miles northwest of Indiana Dunes State Park, where the distress message was reported to have come through on a marine radio.
Authorities said there has been no further communication since the initial mayday transmission.
In a Thursday evening update, IDNR said the U.S. Coast Guard received one mayday call from a marine radio, prompting crews to respond by both water and shoreline. Search teams included a Coast Guard boat and helicopter, the Porter County Marine Unit, U.S. National Park units on a boat, the Porter Fire Department and several other agencies on land. After several hours, officials said no distressed vessel was found, no unusual signs were spotted and no additional mayday calls were received.
Indiana Conservation Officers, the United States Coast Guard, Indiana Dunes National Park Rangers, the Porter Fire Department and the Portage Fire Department were among the agencies searching the water, while additional responders checked the shoreline.
Anyone who may have information is urged to contact Indiana Conservation Officers Central Dispatch at 812-837-9536.
