By MATT THACKER
Matt.Thacker@newsandtribune.com
BORDEN —
A 15-year-old male was released from the hospital after nearly drowning at Deam Lake in Borden on Monday afternoon.
Officials say it was part of a Labor Day family outing when the boy went swimming with two other men.
Indiana Conservation Officer Mac Spainhour said the three males swam past the buoy and out of the swimming area. Spainhour said one of the men, 18 years old, asked if he was doing OK and the 15-year-old responded he was not going to make it.
He tried to climb on the 18-year-old and then tried to climb on an older man who was with them, but both were unable to support him.
Spainhour said the teenager went under the water and to the bottom of the lake. The two other swimmers went down and pulled him up. Spainhour said he was under the water probably less than two minutes.
“People were screaming on the beach,” he said.
A woman from Pekin was on the shore and swam out to assist. She helped to pull the teenager out of the water. When medics arrived, they gave him oxygen. Spainhour said he had very shallow breathing.
He was taken to Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services and released later in the day.
“All those people who were there, that’s what saved him. If they hadn’t been there, it wouldn’t have been good,” Spainhour said.
Deam Lake has no lifeguards. It is a “swim at your own risk” lake, Spainhour said.
“People over-exert themselves thinking they can swim better than they can, and he got tired,” Spainhour said. “We have people who try to swim across the lake.”
He added that it is both dangerous illegal to swim past the buoys.
