Small fishing boat capsizes; two missing

GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. -- A small, overloaded fishing boat with five people aboard capsized Sunday morning in the choppy, chilly waters of the Detroit River.

Two people were believed to have died, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The 12-foot aluminum rowboat was a few feet off shore from Windmill Point Park in this northern Detroit suburb when it began taking on water, Petty Officer 1st Class Ray Mahannah said.

The boat flipped when the passengers began shifting positions, he said.

Other boaters managed to rescue three people from the sinking boat, but were unable to find a 24-year-old man and a 10-year-old boy. Paramedics treated a 7-year-old and two adults at the scene for hypothermia.

Rescuers continued to search for the missing boaters Sunday evening, but Mahannah said anyone in the 55-degree water probably would have died of hypothermia within two hours.

"Survival is a very, very slim chance right now," he said.

The names of those on the boat were not immediately released.

The boaters had rented the vessel to go fishing and had launched it about eight miles upstream, Mahannah said.

"It was basically overloaded," Mahannah said. "Five people on board was really pushing the limits."

Those on the boat were not wearing life preservers, although two preservers later were found in the water, he said.