Three children died on Sunday after falling into a frozen lake in central England, in Solihull, near Birmingham. A fourth boy, aged six, who was rescued at the same time as them, remains “in critical condition in hospital”, West Midlands Police said on Monday.
• Police, firefighters and bystanders mobilized
The emergency services were called at 2:36 p.m. (local time) on Sunday. They tell them that some children who were playing on the ice of Lake Solihull fell into the water. According to local police, officers arrived at the scene a few minutes later.
“One of my officers tried to break the ice himself to save the children,” said commissioner Richard Harris, in statements reported by the BBC.
This officer was later hospitalized for mild hypothermia. Shortly after specialized firefighters arrived at the scene. “When our firefighters arrived, several police officers and locals were in the freezing water trying to save the children,” said local fire chief Richard Stanton.
• Three dead children
This firefighting team eventually managed to reach the children and pull them out of the lake. All four children were immediately transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Heartlands Hospital.
They arrived in critical condition, authorities report, with all four children in cardiac arrest. Three children aged eight, 10 and 11 ‘could not be revived’ and died soon after, reports The Telegraph. A fourth child, aged six, remains in critical condition at the hospital.
• Conflicting testimonies about the number of children
Richard Harris said police were investigating to understand all the details of the tragedy and could not say how long the children had been in the water when help arrived. He also launched a witness summons for more information.
Additionally, the search continues due to conflicting accounts of the number of children present at the lake on Sunday, with some indicating the presence of six children.
Police on Monday dismissed fears that others could be trapped under the ice, and no other children were reported missing in the past 24 hours. However, Commissioner Richard Harris said the teams wanted to be “100 percent sure there was no one else in the water at this time.”
• Research continues
Therefore, the research teams first continued to search the lake overnight from Sunday to Monday, using torchlight in particular to survey the bottoms. During the day on Monday, policemen in boats or with their feet in the water continued to break the ice sheet to make sure there were no more victims.
But “given the temperature of the water, the age of those who entered the water and the time they spent in it, it is no longer a rescue operation” but one of recovery of possible bodies, West Midlands police concluded.
Source: BFM TV
