A horror kayaking accident in Wisconsin has killed all but one member of a family of five. The mother, 29-year-old Cari Mews-Fryman, managed to survive the kayak capsizing, however, she lost her three children—Kyra, 9, Annaliese, 5, and Jansen, 3—and her husband, Eric Fryman, 39. The five were on a family vacation to Lake Superior and were staying on Madeline Island. According to local authorities, they were planning to visit the Apostle Islands. Police were notified by Mews-Fryman's sister at around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday night. Mews-Fryman sent her sister, Bobi Mews, a message that read "911" and "Michigan Island" however it took time to deliver as there was no service, according to Coast Guard master chief Alan Haraf, reported Associated Press. "It wasn't until later in the evening when she had drifted into a service area that the text message finally went through," Haraf said. After the tandem kayak capsized, Fryman gathered the three children while Mews-Fryman attempted to return to the boat for an emergency bag. Waves on the lake separated the family and Mews-Fryman lost sight of them. Mews-Fryman was not found until around 10 p.m. that night. The bodies of the father and the two youngest children were discovered just after midnight. The remaining child, Kyra, was found at around 10 a.m. on Friday morning. It is not known how the kayak capsized or what the weather conditions were at the time. All of them were wearing life jackets while kayaking. Bobi Mews told the Star Tribune that the tragedy is starting to sink in for Mews-Fryman. "Now it's hitting her pretty hard," Mews said. "She's trying to be strong." Speaking about her nieces, Mews described Kyra as someone who loved water activities and Anneliese as "gutsy." Boat captain Joe Walters was in the area and heard the distress call put out by authorities at around 9:20 p.m. He found Mews-Fryman as she was hypothermic. She was pulled aboard by the crew. The search continued for the father and three children until Walters received word they had been found. "Her entire family was just erased," Walters said. "And if she didn't have that flashlight, I don't think we would have ever seen her. It was black dark." Coast Guard Lt. Daniel Peters said the ikely cause of death of the father and three children was hypothermia. "I think hypothermia was a huge factor, especially for the children," Peters said.<doc-sep>(CNN) — A family’s vacation on Lake Superior took a tragic turn when a kayak capsized, killing the father and three young children and leaving the mother as the sole survivor. Cari Mews, 29, and Erik Fryman, 39, took their children on an end-of-the-summer trip to visit the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. The family of five from Loyal, Wisconsin, vacationed in the area last year and looked forward to visiting again, Bobi Jo Mews, Cari’s sister, told CNN affiliate WCCO. “They loved to go camping together and they took their kids everywhere and explored the world,” she told the TV station. They were kayaking from Madeline Island to Michigan Island on Thursday afternoon when the wind and waves started picking up and caused water to get into the kayak, US Coast Guard spokesman Alan Haraf told CNN. The family’s 13 ½-foot craft tipped over and all five, each wearing a life jacket, fell into the open water, Haraf said. Cari Mews was able to use her cell phone, which was stored in a water-proof bag, to text her sister. “I got a text message that said ‘911,’ and then immediately following, ‘Michigan Island.’ I knew that they were going kayaking that day. … I just knew I had to call the police to see if they could go look for them,” Bobi Jo Mews told WCCO. The text message did not reach Cari Mews’ sister until about five hours later because there was no cell service in the area, according to Haraf. After the sister contacted authorities, a half-dozen agencies mobilized to aid in rescue efforts in search of the family. The Coast Guard issued an emergency broadcast to all boats in the area asking them to divert to where the kayak had capsized. USGS Research Vessel KIYI was the first boat to arrive on the scene. Around 10 p.m. CT, crews aboard the vessel spotted a small light coming from the water near Michigan Island. It was from Cari Mews, who had been submerged in 60-degree water for nearly six hours. “She was holding what was possibly a cell phone light,” Haraf told CNN. “She was exhausted and was suffering from hypothermia.” While attempting to swim to Michigan Island, Mews became separated from her husband and their children, ages 3, 6 and 9, in the choppy waters of Lake Superior, according to the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, which aided in the rescue. “It was shortly after (midnight) when a Coast Guard crew located the bodies of the father, the little boy and one of the little girls,” Haraf told CNN. Thunderstorms in the area hampered rescue efforts until Friday morning. At that time, the body of the 9-year-old daughter was located on the shore of Michigan Island by the National Park Service. “Even with all the required safety equipment and all the right training, anything can happen when you get out on the lake,” the Coast Guard’s Justin Sickler told WCCO.<doc-sep>
A family's vacation in northeast Wisconsin turned tragic when their kayak capsized, killing the father and three children and leaving the mother as the only survivor. The plan was for Cari Mews, 29, Erik Fryman, 39, and their three kids — who were 3, 6 and 9 years old — to tour the Apostle Islands, a scenic region of cliffs and sea caves that stretch from Wisconsin's northernmost tip into Lake Superior, while they visited Mews' sister. After pushing off from Madeline Island on Thursday, the kayak capsized between Michigan and Stockton Islands around 4 p.m., and the five were left far from shore in 60-degree water, according to NBC affiliate KBJR. Eric Fryman, left, Annaliese, 5, Jansen, 3, held by Cari Mews, Kyra, 9, in front. Fryman and the children are dead after their kayak capsized off Lake Superior's Apostle Islands. Furnished By Bobi Mews Mews texted her sister the alarming and cryptic messages "911" and "Michigan Island" immediately after the accident, but the message was not delivered until around 8:30 p.m. due to poor cell service. Unsure of what to do, Mews' sister called the Ashland County Communications Center. La Pointe Police investigated and found out the family had left Madeline Island in a kayak. Authorities quickly scrambled the U.S. Coast Guard, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Bayfield Fire and Rescue, the National Park Service and the USGS Research Vessel Kiyi for a water air search and rescue mission. A crew of about 50 people battled through a thunderstorm and visibility of less than 100 yards to find the family, KBJR reported. Ultimately, the research vessel found Mews alive in the water west of Michigan Island a little after 10 p.m. The father and two of the children, however, were found dead in the water after midnight. The third child's body was found Friday at 10 a.m. near the shore of Michigan Island. The family was from Loyal, Wisconsin, about 180 miles south of the Apostle Islands. The incident remains under investigation by the Ashland County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Ashland and Bayfield County Coroner's offices.