Four children pulled from icy lake in Birmingham

Three boys aged eight, ten and eleven have died in hospital after being pulled from a freezing lake in the West Midlands yesterday.

[derekwhyle]

When I was a kid we used to have all sorts of public safety ads on tv. One of them I remember actually covered the subject of children playing on frozen water. I feel so sorry for the parents.

[manichairdo]

All of heaven's love and comfort to all who knew and love the boys and will deeply mourn their loss. Heartbreaking tragedy. My dad drowned during a sudden wild, winter storm. He slipped on ice and fell into a freezing river.

[ahawkins]

All my thoughts go out to the family and friends of these boys. I can't even begin to imagine the pain you are feeling.

[Rob-hyvb]

I have 5 kids and it blows my mind how this happens

[mariecoggins]

Same people complaining '' Kid's don't play outside anymooooree'' are absolutely the same ones now saying' 'Where were the parents?'' Shut up for goodness sake. Three little ones have just lost their lives, right before Christmas.

[splashgordon]

Heartbreaking, I grew up around the corner from that lake. I used to go to school right by the lake. I have actually walked on and even tried riding my mountain bike on that very lake when it was iced over. So many of us have done the very thing those kids were doing, when we was there age. At that age you don’t realise just how dangerous it is. This brings it all to light tho. God bless those poor children and their families. My daughter is 10 years old, I don’t think I could carry if I lost her

[graememorris]

So sad.
The members of the public and the emergency workers who swam to rescue the children are heroes .

[CouncilOfWolves]

A terrible tragedy. My heart goes out to the poor families of these children.

[drsyn]

Done it myself when I was kid, you don’t give a thought of how dangerous it is, RIP angels ❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏

[brunopouneu]

God look after this children and comfort them family 😢

[sextonblake]

As a general rule, the middle of a lake is the last to freeze, so I deduce that it's pretty easy to walk on the first few feet near the edge and think it's safe.
Get further in and not only is the ice thinner, but the water is probably deeper.
People need to be aware of this when "playing" on lakes in winter.

[Seventeen_Seconds]

Sad news but why the hell are kids playing on a freezing lake instead of just throwing snowballs and building snowmen.

[leighannclements]

3 poor angels 🙏💔 please everyone show some respect the families must be devastated.

[robbrown]

I miss Thomas, he was the eleven year old who is from my school, I never got to know him that well, but I will still miss him even though he wasn’t exactly a friend

[SootyHunt]

Heart breaking 😢 absolutely heartbreaking ❤🙏

[FaithfulWriting]

God bless everyone involved. I'm sorry 💔

[solomcfc]

Some of these comments are disgusting. This is not about blame, it was a tragic accident. They were children playing and I know as a child I did things I had been told weren't safe because that's what kids do. But I must have forgotten that those of you who are trying to place blame are perfect yourselves and feel justified to place blame on this tradegy that you actually know very little about what happened 🙄😡

[mekabara]

For all negative comments on why the kids were there... They are children for crying out loud, ...really sad news, my heart goes out to their respective families

[uemackay]

As a society we have lost basic survival techniques and do not pass them onto our children. Its not good enough to say don't do that, we must teach our children how to think for themselves in survival situations. People with outdoor experience will know how to test the ice and will also know the ice is weakest in the middle and strongest on the edges.

[sophieevans]

3 of the four have passed away and all I can think is where were the parents?!?!?