9 p.m. update: Indiana Conservation officers and the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department are continuing an investigation into a near-drowning incident at Lutheran Lake Friday afternoon. Barbara Haller, 69, Louisville, Kentucky, is listed in critical, but stable condition at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis after she was pulled from the water by her husband, and assisted to shore by an individual in a boat.
Initial story:
A woman who was rescued by her husband and a passing boater in a near-drowning incident on Lutheran Lake has been transported to Indianapolis for treatment.
The incident was reported at 3:36 p.m. Friday to Bartholomew County first responders, who were sent to a swimming area on the lake about an unresponsive woman who had been brought out of the water.
Angela Goldman, Indiana Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman, said the woman and her husband were swimming using inflatable rafts in a swimming area at the lake when the woman fell off her raft and began struggling in the water.
She went underwater and her husband swam over to rescue her and got her back to the surface, Goldman said. As the husband was attempting to get the woman to shore, a person in a boat assisted him in getting her safely to the beach area, Goldman said.
Southwest Volunteer Fire Department firefighters were first to arrive and gave first aid as the woman was reportedly having shallow breathing but unresponsive after being brought out of the water, Goldman said.
The victim was transported by StatFlight helicopter to St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis for treatment, Goldman said.
The name of the victim is not being released until family members have been notified, she said.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
