13-year-old dies after falling through icy pond in East Brunswick, New Jersey

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Thursday, January 23, 2020
Child dies after falling through icy pond in New Jersey
Diana Rocco has more on the tragedy in East Brunswick after a child feel through an icy pond and died.

EAST BRUNSWICK, New Jersey (WABC) -- A 13-year-old child has died after he fell through the ice on a pond in East Brunswick on Wednesday evening.

Sources say three kids were playing on the pond near Civic Center Drive around 5 p.m. when they all fell in.

Two of the 13-year-old boys were able to get themselves out of the water, but one of the teens became trapped.

The two other kids called 911 and the cops arrived immediately. Six officers formed a human chain to try and rescue the teen, but police say he slipped under the ice.

The fire department then arrived and pulled the teen from the water. They gave him CPR and he was taken to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Superintendent of East Brunswick schools said the child was an 8th-grade student at Churchill Junior High School.

The child's identity has not yet been released.

Police say it's still not clear what the teens were doing on the ice, but no one should have been out there.

"This is an absolute sad and tragic situation for everyone involved-- for the victim, for the officers, for dispatch," said East Brunswick Police Chief Frank LoSacco. "No ice is safe ice, if you see ice on a lake, it's not safe, don't go out on any ice unless it's an ice skating rink."

Six officers and two firefighters were treated for hypothermia.

In a second unrelated incident, another teenager fell through ice in Carteret Park in New Jersey later the same evening.

"Our prayers are with the boy and his family as medics, police, firefighters and agencies from all over the county respond," Mayor Dan Reiman said.

The teen's condition is not yet known and circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear.

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