11-Year-Old Dead After Falling Through Ice In Scarborough
Posted December 10, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An 11-year-old boy is dead Sunday night, after he and a 15-year-old were pulled from a Scarborough pond.
The 15-year-old was taken from the scene without vital signs, after he and the 11-year-old fell through the ice Sunday afternoon.
The victims fell into the frigid water around 3pm near Morningside and Finch, not far from the Toronto Zoo.
The 11-year-old was taken by air ambulance to hospital. The 15-year-old initially had no vital signs, but was later resuscitated and remains in hospital in critical condition.
The boys fell through the ice while walking to a pick-up soccer game in Toronto’s north east end on a day when the temperatures were several degrees above freezing.
T he older boy fell through the ice first, and the younger child attempted to pull his friend out. Both ignored warnings from friends.
“Everyone was shouting not to go,” recalls witness Sinthyan Balasubra. “Then he went in, the ice broke down and he fell into the water.”
“It was so unexpected,” added another, who crawled 30 metres out on the ice with a rope to try to rescue the pair.
“All of a sudden he just fell through,” he said, recalling the helpless feeling as his brother disappeared under the ice.
Emergency crews, including the Toronto Police Marine Unit, raced to the scene and four officers reportedly suffered hypothermia after going in after the victims.
“We have four officers that have suffered mild to moderate hypothermia, we also have some EMS personnel and fire department that are also being treated,” said Toronto Police Insp. Mary Lee Metcalfe, who also stressed the need to be vigilant around freezing bodies of water.
“It’s a very serious situation,” she said. “We’d like to remind the public that these bodies of water are not safe. The flimsy ice is not solid at this time of year.”
The families of the victims have requested that the names not be immediately released.
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