Four children critical after being pulled from frozen Solihull lake

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Dec 2022 10:48

Four children with cardiac arrest are admitted to the hospital and remain in intensive care.

West Midlands Fire Service continued to search the lake through the night. (SWNS)

Four children are fighting for their lives after falling through ice on a lake in Solihull, as temperatures across the UK continue to fall.

The children were rescued from the lake in Babbs Mill Park on Sunday afternoon, according to police. When they were rescued, they were in cardiac arrest and were rushed from the Kingshurst area to the hospital, where they remain on life support.

A desperate search of the water is underway amid fears that more people are missing after the fire department was told that there were up to six people in the water.

"Four children were rescued from the lake and subsequently taken to hospital," West Midlands Police Superintendent Richard Harris said at a press conference on Sunday evening.

“On behalf of West Midlands Police we understand how distressing this is for families and the wider community and we are doing everything we can support all those involved.”

He told reporters that the police, who were called to the scene at 2.36 pm, would not confirm whether the children were siblings or what gender they were at this time, adding that officers from all the emergency services went into the water to help the rescue. One police officer suffered from mild hypothermia and is making a “full recovery” after being rushed to the hospital.

According to reports from the scene and social media, "a number of children had been playing on the ice on a lake and had fallen through the ice," said West Midlands Fire Service area commander Richard Stanton.

He added, “When our firefighters arrived, a number of police officers and members of the public were in the water trying to reach and rescue the children."

“Our crews entered the water, swam to the first child and our specialist-trained firefighters, including technical rescue, rescued three further children. The children were brought out of the water where they received immediate life-support care from firefighters and our ambulance colleagues.”

According to Stanton, the fire department was notified that up to six people were in the water. “So after rescuing the four children, we have continued the search and rescue operation to confirm whether there were any more in the water,” he said.

Overnight, specialized rescue teams will continue to search the lake.