Emergency officials have called off the search for a little girl who allegedly jumped into deeper waters of Pike Lake and failed to emerge.

Jerry Hoerdt with the Department of Natural Rescources told Stacey Page they have concluded a “very thorough search” of the area of the lake using sonar and have determined at this point the claims of a missing child in Pike Lake are unfounded. Hoerdt also said officials interviewed everyone on the beach and as many as could be located in the nearby Pike Lake Campground and there are no children unaccounted for at this time.

Volunteers joined a human chain and searched the waters of Pike Lake for a reported drowning victim. (Photos by Stacey Page)

According to Kosciusko County Dispatch a child was reported missing at 1:10 p.m.

According to witnesses at the scene, the victim was believed to be a young female. Savannah Olinger, 12, of Warsaw, said she was standing directly behind a little girl in a dark blue bathing suit who was on the diving board at the end of the pier at Pike Lake Beach. According to Olinger, the little girl was standing on a diving board and wouldn’t jump. When she finally did jump, Olinger and other young witnesses never saw her emerge from the water.

Two lifeguards did jump in and look for the alleged victim, but called the Warsaw and DNR dive teams and other emergency responders for immediate assistance.

Civilians assisted in the rescue efforts by creating a human chain that slowly proceeded through the waters searching the shallow waters of the beach for the alleged lost child.

Hoerdt said that, at this time, without a report of a missing child and based on the sonar results and the search by dive team members, the alleged drowning is unfounded.

Assisting the Kosciusko County Dive Team at the scene was Multi-Township EMS, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, Warsaw Police and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department.