The heartbreaking testimony of a mother who lost her children in a lake: “There were three of them, I was alone. They all needed me at the same time”
Three boys, ages 6, 8 and 9, died in north Texas after falling through the ice of a pond across the street from their family home. The incident occurred on Monday, in the context of the winter storm that hit much of the United States, Fannin County authorities announced on Tuesday, according to ABC News.
The tragedy occurred north of the town of Bonham, in a rural community of about 10,000 residents near the Oklahoma border. Neighbors and emergency teams managed to pull the two older brothers out of the water, while the middle child was only found after an extensive search. None of them survived.
“My body locked up as soon as I went in. I just couldn't save them”
Cheyenne Hangaman, the children's mother, told FOX 4 that she desperately tried to save her children after her daughter came running to tell her the siblings had fallen into the water. The family was visiting some friends who live just across the road from the pond:
“I started running towards the pond, jumped into the water and tried to save them, while I was also trying to stay on the surface because the water was freezing.”
Frozen lakes are a danger to children and adults. PHOTO Shutterstock
The mother's sweeps are disturbing:
“My body just locked up as soon as I got in. They were just screaming, telling me to help them. And I watched them all struggle to stay above water. It was just me and there were three of them. They all needed me at the same time and I couldn't… I just couldn't save them”, said Cheyenne Hangaman.
A man who came to help managed to throw her a rope and pull her out of the water.
“We are deeply saddened by this unimaginable loss”
The children were students in the Bonham Independent School District, which had canceled classes Monday due to extreme temperatures.
“We are deeply saddened by this unimaginable loss. Our thoughts go out to the family, friends and all who knew and loved them“, a representative of the school sent, in a letter addressed to parents.
The tragedy in Texas adds to the more than 40 deaths reported in the states affected by the extreme cold wave.
We remind you that, this month, a dramatic rescue mission took place in the Nicolae Romanescu Park in Craiova, where a girl of about 5 years, who was in the park with her parents, fell into the lake. The little girl survived the incident.
A few days ago, a group of men managed to rescue a child from a taxi that was sinking into an ice-cold canal in Dagestan, Russia.
