Times Staff Report

LaPorte County sheriff's officers on Wednesday rescued two fishermen whose boat had capsized on Hog Lake and whose body temperatures were plummeting.

Henry Penn, 58, of Michigan City, and Gerald Penn, 60, of Colorado, were holding on to their overturned aluminum boat when a visitor to the area, Marisa Dailey, spotted them about 10:30 a.m. and called LaPorte County 911.

Capt. Joseph Pavolka and Deputy Michael Walker were the first to arrive. Realizing the danger the fishermen were in, the officers found a beached boat and cobbled together makeshift oars from boards. With the high winds, it took the officers nearly 30 minutes to reach the men, the department said in a news release.

By this time, the Penns had started to lose feeling in their limbs and were almost unable to speak. Both conditions indicate moderate to severe hypothermia, or declining body temperature. The condition can be deadly.

Pavolka and Walker maneuvered their makeshift rescue boat back to shore, where the Kankakee Township Fire Department and LaPorte County EMS waited. The Penns were taken to LaPorte Hospital.

The capsized boat was retrieved from the Lake by the LaPorte County Dive team.

This is the second boat that has capsized in LaPorte in two days. There was a rescue Tuesday on Pike Lake.