Four children are fighting for their lives in hospital after they were pulled from a lake in freezing temperatures after falling through its iced-over surface, police said this evening.
A large number of paramedics, police officers and firefighters are all on the scene near Babbs Mill Lake, in Solihull near Birmingham, continuing to search for any other people who could be in the water.
Police were called to the scene shortly after 2.30pm on Sunday.
In an press conference held on Sunday evening, West Midlands Fire Service said crews were called to the scene on Sunday afternoon after local reports and videos on social media which indicated people had been playing on the ice of a pond and had fallen through.
Richard Stanton, from the Fire Service, said: “when fire services arrived on the scene, we were made aware there may be up to six people potentially within the water.
“After rescuing the four children we have continued search and rescue operations within the whole of the lake in order to confirm whether there are any more within the water."
Mr Stanton said that when fire services arrived, a number of police officers were already 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 rescued three further children," he said.
“The children were brought out of the water, where they received immediate life support care from firefighters and our ambulance colleagues.
“I’d like to recognise the efforts of my emergency service colleagues and also the public on scene,” Mr Stanton said.
Speaking in the same press conference, Richard Harris, from West Midlands police, said the four children who were rescued from the lake had been taken to hospital.
"We are going to hold the scene tonight, there will be police presence overnight, just in case there might have been anyone else that was involved."
Mr Stanton added: "The specialist advice that we've been given from the scene is that given the temperature of the water and given the age of those believed to have entered the water and also the amount of time they've been in there, that this would no longer be a search and rescue operation."
Mr Harris asked that anyone with relevant information get in touch to assist with inquiries.
“On behalf of West Midlands police, I’d like to say that we do understand how distressing this is to the wider community.
“We, and the other emergency services are doing everything we can to support all those involved.
Cameron McVittie, from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, said “five ambulances, four paramedic officers, and the hazardous area response team were sent along to the scene with five enhanced care teams which is comprised of doctors and care paramedics, a trauma doctor and further critical care paramedics also attending from the West Midlands care team”.
An air ambulance was also sent to the scene, he said.
“After being rescued, the four children were immediately assessed by ambulance staff," he continued.
"The children that were rescued were taken on blue lights to hospital with the enhanced care team travelling in the back of the ambulance providing advanced life support."
Mr McVittie said two of the children were taken to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and two children to Heartlands hospital.
All four children were in a critical condition upon their arrival and had gone into cardiac arrest, he said.
Babbs Mill Park is a popular nature reserve with a lake, river, grasslands and woodlands.
A man who was at Heartlands hospital on Sunday evening when the two children were admitted for care said nurses and doctors were being pulled from their clinics to help.
The witness, who did not want to be named, had been ready to go in to be seen by an out-of-hours GP when he noticed the movement of medics and asked a staffer what had happened.
“He turned around and said there as been an incident and it is really bad as Heartlands only close the departments when something so serious like this comes up,” the man said.
He added: “There was 4 police cars one which drove in front of the ambulance and one behind the ambulance and they went round the back of the A&E.
“All the staff, nurses, doctors was pulled from Badger and A&E, all from the hospital wards to go help these young kids when they came in from the lake."
The man said that police officers and security were on standby making sure no cars were in the way, to give the paramedics a clear path to the hospital.
The incident comes as yellow weather warnings have been issued for snow, ice and fog are in force across most of the UK.
Temperatures are expected to plummet to as low as -10C on Sunday night.
The Birmingham region has been hit by freezing conditions with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issuing a Level 3 cold weather alert covering England until Friday December 16.
It has been snowing on and off in Birmingham today, and temperatures will continue to plummet as the region braces for freezing conditions.
