Rescue workers shield the area where a man was pulled from the water today at Whitmore Lake after a small fishing boat spun out of control. A young girl was also rescued.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

A 34-year-old man died after he and a 2-year-old girl were pulled from the 41-degree waters of Whitmore Lake this afternoon following a boating accident. The girl, believed to be his daughter, is in critical condition at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor.

The Whitmore Lake man was declared dead at 2:30 p.m. today at U-M Hospital, said Green Oak Township Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Gentry.

Both the man and the girl were unconscious when they were found, authorities said at a 12:30 p.m. news conference.

Witnesses said the two fell out of a boat after it began spinning out of control this morning.

The girl was wearing a life jacket and was in the water an estimated 16 to 20 minutes before being pulled out by a husband and wife who used a paddle boat to go out on the lake and pull her aboard at about 11:15 a.m., according to a statement from Green Oak Township police released at 3:30 p.m. Another resident in a motorized boat helped the couple bring the girl to shore.

A 14-foot aluminum fishing boat, center, went out of control today on Whitmore Lake, ejecting its passengers, a man and a young girl.

Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

The man was in the water for an estimated hour and 15 minutes, authorities said. He was rescued at about 12:15 p.m. by the Livingston County dive team in 10 to 15 feet of water. He was not wearing a life jacket.

Gentry said when crews arrived, the boat, a 14-foot aluminum fishing boat, was upright and spinning out of control. The incident was reported at 10:54 a.m. and 911 callers reported hearing screams from the water.

Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office spokesman Derrick Jackson said the Marine Division was also called to help. Other agencies at the scene were Northfield Township police and fire, Livingston County dive team members, and Michigan State Police.

Karelyn Munro, a waitress at Whitmore Lake Tavern, 9839 Main St., said a lot of people in the restaurant saw the accident. The tavern overlooks the lake near the 8-Mile Road exit off US-23.

She said a small aluminum fishing boat with an outboard motor started spinning around and a man and a child fell into the water.

Tavern owner Tom Lombardi said there are very few boats in the water for the season, so there were no boats immediately available to go out.

Lombardi said a police officer was also having breakfast and ran out immediately to help.

Rick Carlington, 48, owner of Rick's Bait Shack, 9815 Main St., said his wife called him after she left the store to get breakfast and saw a boat in the middle of the lake doing doughnuts.

Carlington hurried outside and saw what appeared to be a person in the water, he said. He ran to a nearby marina, where he found keys to a boat that several citizens took out to help rescuers.

"I felt really, really bad because I didn't have my boat ... but I helped out all I could," he said.

The man who died is a regular customer at the bait shop who has lived on the lake for a year and often goes fishing on weekends, Carlington said. Sometimes the man takes his daughter with him, Carlington said. He thought the girl was about 4. Carlington suspects the man was fishing for crappie.

"He wouldn't be out in this cold weather if he wasn't an avid fisherman," Carlington said.

This story has been updated with additional details, interviews, and photos. Staff writer Lee Higgins and staff photographer Melanie Maxwell contributed reporting from the scene.