Three boys aged 11, ten and eight have died after being pulled from an icy lake in Solihull on Sunday, West Midlands Police has said.
Emergency services were called to Babbs Mill Park in Kingshurst at 2.36pm on Sunday, with reports from the scene and social media indicating that children had been playing on the ice and had fallen through into the lake.
West Midlands Police said later on Sunday that four children had been pulled from the lake in cardiac arrest and placed on life support.
The force has now confirmed that three young boys, aged 11, ten and eight, have died following the incident.
A fourth boy, aged six, remains in a critical condition in hospital.
UPDATE: Officer tried to ‘punch through ice’ to save children from frozen lake
Emergency services were informed that up to six people had been spotted in the water, and searches are ongoing to establish if anyone else fell into the lake.
A police statement statement said: “Three boys have tragically died after falling into the lake at Babbs Mill Park in Solihull yesterday afternoon.
“The boys, aged 11, ten and eight, were rushed to hospital after being pulled from the water.
READ MORE: Temperatures plummet below -15C in coldest night of 2022 amid warning
“Sadly, they could not be revived and our thoughts are with their family and friends at this deeply devastating time. We’ll have specialist officers offering them as much support as we can.
“A fourth boy, aged six, remains in a critical condition in hospital.
“We’ve been working alongside colleagues from the fire and ambulance services as we do all we can to support those involved.
“Searches of the lake are continuing as we seek to establish exactly what happened and if anyone else fell into the water.
“We understand how distressing this is for the families and the wider community.
“We would ask people to not speculate or share any video footage at this stage.”
A press conference on Sunday heard that one of the police officers suffered mild hypothermia and is making a “full recovery” in hospital.
Temperatures are thought to have plunged to 1C in the area at the time of the incident, falling to -3C overnight.
More to follow…
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