Day Playing on Icy Lake Ends in Tragedy

3 young boys die, 4th critically injured after they fell through ice in Solihull, England
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 12, 2022 7:31 AM CST
3 Boys Die After Falling Through Icy Lake
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/wakr10)

Three young boys are dead and one is in critical condition after they fell through the ice on a lake in Solihull, England. At a presser Sunday evening, Richard Stanton of the West Midlands Fire Service said that the department responded around 2:40pm local time that day, along with area police and ambulance workers, to Babbs Mill Park, where bystanders were already trying to pull the children out of the lake, per the Guardian.

Stanton says that once first responders pulled the youngsters out of the frozen waters, they administered CPR, then transported the boys, who were all in cardiac arrest, to the hospital, Sky News reports. Three of the children—an 8-year-old, 10-year-old, and 11-year-old—didn't survive. A 6-year-old boy remains in critical condition. A police officer who helped with the search was also treated for mild hypothermia.

And officials worry even more children may have been playing on the lake and fallen in. "When the fire service arrived at the scene, we were made aware there were up to six people in the water," says Richard Harris, superintendent of the West Midlands Police, per the Independent. Stanton said police diving teams would continue to search the waters Monday morning as a precaution. In the meantime, he's warning members of the public to stay away from frozen bodies of water. "Under no circumstances venture onto ice, regardless how thick or safe you think this ice may be," he says, per Sky. (More deaths stories.)

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