2 West Michigan Girls Escape Sinking Vehicle, Spend Hours Outside Before Rescue

The will of humans can be extraordinary even during the most tragic situations. Two young girls under 11 spent seven hours outside after climbing out of a sinking vehicle.

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Lake Macatawa in Ottawa County

Lake Macatawa in Ottawa County, Michigan, is a very large lake at 1,700 acres. To give you a better description, Lake Macatawa is about six miles long and about 1.2 miles wide.

Lake Macatawa is not very deep averaging about 10 feet except for the channel that runs through the lake to allow deep draft ships to pass through to cock at the City of Holland. Unfortunately, 10 feet is enough water to submerge a vehicle.

Vehicle Crashes Into Lake Macatawa

A terrible accident occurred in Ottawa County over the weekend where a 52-year-old man allegedly drove his vehicle into Lake Macatawa in the early hours of Sunday morning. The man was not the only person in the vehicle. Also, riding with him were his 8 and 10 old daughters.

The driver of the vehicle was found dead, but the two young girls were able to escape through the vehicle's hatch and swim to safety. Since it was dark, the two young girls knocked on several doors in the area but couldn't find anyone home seeing how many homes were empty since they are summer homes.

Divers pulled the man's body some seven hours after the young girls were found.

MLive reports that the two girls huddled together trying to stay warm on a porch until it became daylight, then they walked to a house that had cars in the driveway and knocked on the door. Kevin MacLeod let the two young girls into his home, got them blankets and socks, and notified authorities.

Investigators are still looking into how the vehicle wound up on the lake and if there were any prior issues with the driver.