Man pulled from Lake Michigan near Playpen, hospitalized in critical condition

A man was taken to the hospital in critical condition after he was pulled out of Lake Michigan near the Playpen north of Ohio Street beach on Thursday afternoon.

Police said, around 2:50 p.m., marine unite officers responded to a call of a person in the water in the 800 block of North DuSable Lake Shore Drive.

Rescue crews pulled a 39-year-old man out of the water, and he was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

It was not immediately clear what caused the man to go underwater. The Chicago Park District closed the city's beaches to swimmers on Thursday due to poor air quality from Canadian wildfire smoke.

It's the second time in 24 hours a man has been pulled out of Lake Michigan along the Chicago lakefront.

On Wednesday afternoon, a 70-year-old man was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in critical condition, after fellow beachgoers pulled him out of the water at Montrose Beach.