OCONTO, WI- The bodies of two young children were found after their sailboat was discovered capsized in the waters of Door County. The tragic incident has left the boating community in shock and mourning.
The search by the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department began over the weekend for the two children, ages 3 and 5, and their father, 32-year-old Bill Salnik of Little Suamico, after they went sailing on Saturday. The three left Oconto Harbor after 10 a.m.
“Around noon Sunday, the Oconto County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an overdue boat and began a search with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Wisconsin DNR,” said Chief Deputy Patrick McCarty with the Door County Sheriff’s Office.
The search expanded into Door County’s jurisdictional waters with emergency personnel from the Door County Sheriff’s Office, Door County emergency services, and local fire departments joining the efforts. The family’s intended route was to sail from Green Island in the bay to a marina just south of Oconto, but they never reached their destination.
Salnik’s truck and trailer were still at the boat ramp, and his phone calls went straight to voicemail. At 6:22 a.m. Monday, the capsized sailboat was found just south of Chambers Island, but Salnik and his children were not on board. The vessel was towed to Fish Creek.
After 11 a.m. Monday, searchers found the bodies of the two young children about a mile south of where the sailboat was found. “The bodies of two young children were recovered in the water about one mile south of where the boat was located. Their names are not being released at this time pending positive identification and notification of next of kin,” added McCarty.
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