Four children in cardiac arrest have been hospitalized in critical condition after falling into a frozen lake in the west of England on Sunday, British rescue services said.
The children were picked up in the freezing water by rescuers called in the early afternoon in Solihull, a town southeast of Birmingham.
According to witnesses, they were playing on the ice of a frozen lake and fell into the water.
“
The children were pulled from the water and received immediate life support from firefighters and paramedics
,” local fire chief Richard Stanton said at a press conference Sunday evening.
“
Unfortunately, the children in the water were in cardiac arrest and hooked up to advanced life support systems on the way to hospital
,” said Cameron McVittie of the local ambulance service.
In "
critical condition
", they were taken to two different hospitals in Birmingham.
The gender and age of the children were not specified, nor the time they spent in the water before being rescued.
The toll could rise as police said they were told when they arrived at the scene that "
up to six people
" had fallen into the water.
"
So after rescuing the four children, we continued the search to see if there were other people in the water
," said Richard Stanton.
A rescue team will continue the search overnight.
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But "
given the temperature in the water, the age of those who entered the water and the time they spent in it, it is no longer a question of a rescue operation
" but rather of recovering from potential bodies, he clarified.
A police officer deployed at the scene was also taken to hospital after suffering mild hypothermia, it was said at the press conference.
The United Kingdom has been experiencing a major cold snap since Friday, with freezing temperatures across the country and heavy snowfall in places.