Illinois woman hospitalized after Eagle Lake water rescue near Battle Lake

Neighbors and friends pulled an 83-year-old woman from Eagle Lake south of Battle Lake Monday evening after she struggled in the water and had trouble breathing.

The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called around 8:30 p.m. to a home on East Eagle Lake Drive after a 911 caller reported that the woman, identified in the report as being from Byron, Illinois, had dove into the lake and quickly got into trouble. The caller said she was struggling to swim and having difficulty breathing.

People nearby got her out of the water and back to shore before emergency crews arrived. Ashby Ambulance then evaluated her and transported her to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The rescue was a close call on a familiar stretch of water that draws summer traffic from across Otter Tail County and beyond. Eagle Lake sits among the area’s busy lakes, where boating, swimming and dockside gatherings can turn fast if conditions change or a swimmer is not as steady as expected.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drowning can happen in seconds and is often silent. The agency also says nonfatal drowning can range from no injuries to serious outcomes such as brain damage or permanent disability. For adults on area lakes, the CDC recommends life jackets during water activities, and says swimming lessons can lower drowning risk. More than half of U.S. adults have never taken a swimming lesson.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says drowning often occurs when a victim tries to swim to shore. It also notes that waterways are shared resources and that boating season brings increased traffic on lakes and rivers. In Minnesota, that traffic is heavy: the state has more than 800,000 registered boats and ranks second in boating per capita.