Four children in cardiac arrest have been hospitalized in critical condition after falling into a frozen lake in western England on Sunday, British rescue services said.
According to witnesses, they were playing on the ice of a frozen lake and fell into the water.
“The children were pulled from the water and received immediate resuscitation from firefighters and paramedics,” local fire chief Richard Stanton said at a news conference Sunday night.
The search will continue tonight.
“Unfortunately, the children in the water went into cardiac arrest and were connected to advanced life support systems on the way to hospital,” said Cameron McVittie of the local ambulance service.
In “critical condition”, they were taken to two different hospitals in Birmingham. The sex and age of the children were not specified, nor was the time they spent in the water before being rescued.
The death toll could rise as police said they were told “up to six people” had fallen into the water when they arrived at the scene.
“So after rescuing all four children, we continued the search to see if there were any other people in the water,” Richard Stanton said. A rescue team will continue the search overnight.
But “given the temperature of the water, the age of those who entered the water and the time they were in it, it is no longer a rescue operation” but rather the recovery of possible bodies, he clarified.
A police officer deployed to the scene was also taken to hospital after suffering mild hypothermia, the news conference was said.
The UK has been experiencing a major cold snap since Friday, with freezing temperatures across the country and heavy snow in some places.
Source: BFM TV
