Chicago man drowns after canoe capsizes in northwest suburbs

A Chicago man was found dead in a northwest suburban lake after the canoe he fishing in with his two children and another man capsized Sunday evening.

About 6 p.m., the four were on the canoe in Wooster Lake in unincorporated Fox Lake when the craft flipped over, according to Fox Lake Fire Battalion Chief Tom Preidis.

Mirza D. Muzaofarov, 35, was fishing in a canoe with his sons, ages 10 and 11, and a family friend when he “suddenly stood up in the back of the canoe, causing it to capsize,” a statement from the Lake County sheriff’s office said.

A man onshore saw the canoe overturn and swam out to rescue the two children, ages 10 and 11, Preidis said. Other witnesses launched a boat to try to rescue the victims, police said.

Three were rescued but Muzaofarov “slipped beneath the water during the rescue effort,” police said.

None of the victims was wearing life preservers.

Five area fire departments took part in a search using divers and “side scanning sonar” until the body was recovered at 9:20 p.m., the sheriff’s office said. Muzaofarov was pronounced dead at the scene.

None of the others required medical treatment.

Muzaofarov, of the 5000 block of North East River Road in Chicago, died from drowning, but the manner of death will not be determined for another six weeks, the Lake County coroner’s office said. The coroner’s office spelled his last name as Muzaffarov.

The sheriff’s office continues to investigate.