Four children in cardiac arrest after falling through ice on Solihull lake near Birmingham, UK

Four children went into cardiac arrest and were taken to the hospital after falling through the ice on a lake in Solihull, near Birmingham, emergency services have said. West Midlands police said that they suspect that two more children might be missing after the incident, hence, specialist teams continued the operation overnight at Babbs Mill Park in Kingshurst.

Cameron McVittie, a tactical commander with West Midlands ambulance service, said the four children are receiving specialist care. While two of them are being treated at Birmingham children’s hospital, the other two are at Heartlands hospital.

McVittie said, “Unfortunately, the children in the water were in cardiac arrest and were receiving advanced life support en route to hospital. There are no updates. They are all in critical condition when they arrived in hospital.”

Talking about the circumstances around the incident, West Midlands fire service area commander, Richard Stanton, said going by 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”.

Officers and first responders had to enter the lake to look for the children, as a result of which, one officer has mild hypothermia and is making a “full recovery” in hospital, Supt Richard Harris, from West Midlands police, said.

Stanton told reporters that the firefighters on arrival at the scene were “made aware there were up to six people 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. The specialist medical advice we have been given on the scene, given the temperature of the water, given the age of those who entered the water and the amount of time they have been in there – this would no longer be a search and rescue operation," he said.

A woman who works in a nearby primary school, told the Daily Mail, “I understand they are all year five and year six primary schoolchildren. I think they were a group of friends. The lake was ice and it is very enticing for children."

The Met Office had earlier issued a yellow warning for snow and ice for much of Scotland, as well as parts of Wales and south-western England until noon on Sunday. Two more snow and ice warnings are in place. One for the north of Scotland for 24 hours from noon, and the other for most of London and some of south-east England starting 6 pm on Sunday to 9 am on Monday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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