A man swimming with friends drowned Saturday night at Illinois Beach State Park, the second drowning in that area of the Lake Michigan waterfront this month.
This weekend’s victim was pronounced dead Saturday night at Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan. Authorities identified him as 26-year-old Akshith Reddy Bhandra of New York.
The Beach Park Fire Department said it was called at about 8:15 p.m. for reports of a swimmer in distress. Firefighters from Beach Park and Zion entered the lake and began searching at the spot where the man was last seen.
Other departments responded to aid in the search, including the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and Bhandra was located at around 10 p.m. by rescue divers.
Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli of the Sheriff’s Office said Bhandra’s body was recovered about 30 feet from shore.
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The victim and two friends, also men in their 20s, were attempting to swim from shore to a rock wall when Bhandra went under the water, Covelli said.
The drowning was the second one this month at the park. On July 12, Cesia Ketchum, a 15-year-old Zion girl, died after she went under the waters. Her rescuers were able to re-establish a pulse after locating her, but Ketchum died later that night at a hospital.