PRAYERS have been offered and a school has closed after four children were rescued from a frozen lake in Solihull.
West Midlands Fire Service, West Midlands Ambulance Service and West Midlands Police were called to the Kingshurst park shortly after 2.30pm on Sunday (December 11).
Two children have been taken to Birmingham Children’s Hospital and two to Heartlands Hospital.
The ambulance service said all four children were said to be in a critical condition on arrival.
A West Midlands Fire Service spokesperson said: “Reports from the scene and videos on social media indicate that people had been playing on the ice on a pond and had fallen through.”
St Anthony’s Primary in Kingshurst tweeted that it would be shut today, Monday, December 12, because of the incident.
It said: “School will be closed for pupils tomorrow due to the incident at Babbs Mill. Please keep all those affected in your prayers at this difficult time.”
Councillor Ian Courts, leader of Solihull Council, said: “I and all members and officers of Solihull Council are stunned by the dreadful situation at Babbs Mill and our thoughts are with the families and friends of all those affected.
“I know the people of Kingshurst are a close knit community and I am sure they will be supporting each other during this difficult time.
“We will be providing help and resources today and in the weeks ahead to try and assist where we can.
“We would like to thank the emergency services for their incredible bravery and resilience during the operation.”
Meriden MP, Saqib Bhatti, tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with the whole community and I pray for all those that are affected. I am being kept updated as the situation develops.”
West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, said: “My thoughts are with all the families affected and our incredibly brave emergency service workers who have responded to such a distressing scene.
I know we’ll all be praying for the children to pull through.”
Temperatures were at around 1°C when the incident happened.
West Midlands Police are appealing for anyone with footage of the incident to send it to them here.
