Search called for boy missing in Lake Michigan

July 9, 2012 (PORTAGE, Ind.) (WLS) -- The search has been called off for the night for a northwest Indiana teenager who disappeared yesterday while swimming with friends in Lake Michigan.

Fifteen-year-old Corey McFry disappeared Sunday near the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk site of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

A lone police boat criss-crossed Lake Michigan in the general area where McFry disappeared Sunday evening.

Divers spent much of the day scouring the bottom of the lake in a nearly square mile section, while relatives watch from shore.

"It's not something you really want to deal with, not a phone call you want to get," said Mark McGregor, the fiancé of McFry's mother.

McFry was with friends at the lake trying to beat the heat Sunday in the lake on a sandbar a little off shore when he either slipped or was swept away by 3 to 5 foot waves. Most beaches in the area with lifeguards were closed yesterday because of the strong rip currents.

"It appears what happened when he stepped off that sandbar, he did step into water that was way over his head and with the waves that were crashing in, just wasn't able to get back to the surface," said Indiana Conservation officer Gene Davis.

His family says McFry, who would have been a freshman at Portage High School in the fall, was a capable but not especially strong swimmer.

But no matter how strong the swimmer, battling rip currents the lake almost always wins.

Experts say the way to survive is to counter intuitively swim parallel to the shore with the current until you reach calmer water.

McFry is the second drowning victim of the season along this stretch of Indiana beach.

The beach was closed on Monday while authorities did an intensive search. They do plan to have it open on Tuesday.

The search will continue on Tuesday morning, however it will be just a few boats out on the water looking on the surface to see whatever they might be able to find.

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