CALUMET - Michigan State Police troopers from the Calumet post credited the fast actions and thinking of three local residents for saving the life of a man whose kayak overturned in Lake Superior Monday night.
Troopers said they responded to a call of a distressed person in the water along Lakeshore Drive in Calumet Township. The incident was reported at 8:18 p.m.
Police spoke with a resident who told troopers he had heard a male subject calling for help. The resident scanned the lake surface with binoculars and spotted a man in the water with an overturned kayak, about three-quarters of a mile offshore.
The resident had been able to signal a woman who was traveling in another kayak near the shore. He directed her toward the man in the water. Another resident, who overheard what was happening, used a row boat to also try to reach the man in the water.
The woman in the kayak and the man in the row boat got to the overturned kayak and the man, who police did not identify, was rescued by the two residents.
Troopers said the man was taken to shore and treated by Mercy Ambulance personnel.
Rescue crews from the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Portage were headed to the scene, but were called back prior to their arrival.