Sheriff’s Report – June 10

News conference – Thursday, June 10, held by Capt. Dave Adams

Wednesday, June 9, around 5 p.m., the Sheriff’s Department received a call that a 9-year-old child had gone missing in Lake Michigan near Smies Road in the town of Holland. Sophie Khan of Chicago, who had been vacationing at a friend’s cottage, had been in a kayak when the west wind blew her farther out into the lake. Her father attempted to swim to her and when he reached the kayak, Sophie was not in the kayak. A good Samaritan, Scott Hoftiezer of Oostburg, seeing the father in distress, took his canoe out to the kayak only to have the canoe capsize.

The Sheboygan Coast Guard then came to the aid of Mr. Khan and Hoftiezer. At the time of the incident, Sophie was not wearing a flotation device. Rescue boats and dive teams responded to the scene immediately working until midnight on the 9th. Crews returned to the scene at sunup.

As of 9:30 a.m. Thursday, June 10, the emphasis of the search had changed to a recovery mode rather than a rescue mode. At the time of the incident, Sophie was approximately one-fourth to one-half mile from shore.