McHENRY – Police and Fox River officials are working to remove a submerged boat at the northeast corner of Pistakee Bay, after responding to reports on Saturday of a sinking 12-foot Runabout.

The boat was completely submerged by the time McHenry County Sheriff officials arrived to the scene. The boat operator and a passenger safely swam to shore, uninjured, near the 700 block of Regnier Road, according to a Sheriff's news release.

The Sheriff's Office is working with the Fox River Waterway Agency and the owner on how to remove the boat from the bay. Officials are unsure what caused the boat to sink.

With the extreme hot, dry temperatures, the Sheriff's Office urges caution when on the narrow. shallow Fox River waterways. The department has already investigated six waterway crashes this summer, and officials have said that the lack of rain has made the waterways more hazardous.

– Stephen Di Benedetto