Their Families at Church, They Played in the Snow. Then, Tragedy

A 12-year-old girl has died after a snow fort collapsed while she was playing outside a church in suburban Chicago. Arlington Heights police are calling the death a "tragic accident," the AP reports. Police say the girl, Esther Jung, was playing with a 9-year-old girl in the snow outside Rothem Church on Sunday. Their families, who CBS Chicago reports were attending church services, began looking for the girls about an hour after they went outside to play.

Arlington Heights firefighters and police were called around 2:40pm, and the girls were found and taken to a local hospital. The younger girl survived and was treated for hypothermia and released. Esther was pronounced dead at 4:30pm; an autopsy is scheduled. Police say it's unclear how long the girls were trapped. The temperature at the time was about 14 degrees. (This is not the first time such a tragedy has occurred.)