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Michigan ore boat worker drowns

BURNS HARBOR, Ind. (AP) — A Michigan woman who was a deckhand on an ore boat has died after falling into Lake Michigan at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, authorities said.

Sara Murawski, 30, of Kinde, Michigan, had just completed a work trip of several weeks and was onshore retrieving her belongings Monday afternoon when she fell between a dock and the boat, Indiana conservation officers said. A witness entered the water in an attempt to rescue Murawski but she slipped below the surface before he could reach her and did not immediately resurface, officers said. She was not wearing a life jacket.

A diver reached her in 32 feet of water about 45 minutes later and brought her to the surface and a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, but she was pronounced dead at a hospital, officers said. Murawski’s death is believed to be an accidental drowning, officers said. Murawski fell at the site of Wilfred Sykes, an ore boat, according to a statement from ArcelorMittal, the steel company that operates the dock. The company is working with Central Marine Logistics, which manages the Wilfred Sykes captain and crew, to investigate the incident.

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