FRANKLIN CO., Ill.—Two people are dead after an incident on bitterly-cold waters of Rend Lake.
The situation occurred Saturday, December 29, at 12:45 p.m. when Terry Calvert, 63, of New Baden, was fishing from a boat on the Franklin County side of the lake with his two grandsons, one age 11, one age 13, who are from Collinsville.
At that time, Franklin County authorities received word that there were two people in the water in the Gun Creek area.
When Franklin County and other emergency responders arrived, they found that something had happened on the boat that caused the 13-year-old to fall into the frigid waters; Calvert jumped in to save the boy, and many attempts were made to help them both back in, but the attempts failed. The 11-year-old was able to get the attention of others fishing in the area, who got the call out to emergency services. However, only Calvert could be retrieved; the other boy was no immediately located.
Calvert was taken to an unnamed area hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Divers located the unresponsive 13-year-old at about 2:30 p.m.; he was taken to an area hospital and pronounced deceased at 3:55 p.m.
Rend Lake Search and Rescue, Illinois Corps of Engineers personnel, Benton Fire Department and Illinois Department of Natural Resources assisted in the effort to rescue the two.