A 12-year-old boy died and an 11-year-old remains in critical condition after the two fell through the ice at a pond in Albany.
The Albany Police Department said the incident was reported around 4:35 p.m. Saturday at Washington Park Lake.
Officers and city firefighters arrived at the scene and rescued the girl, who was treated at the scene and rushed to Albany Medical Center Hospital.
The New York State Police underwater recovery team joined the search and found the boy’s body around 7:25 p.m.
Investigators learned the boy had fallen through the ice while trying to walk across the pond to a nearby lake house.
“It is then believed that the 11-year-old female observed the boy fall through the ice and, in an attempt to help, followed the same path of travel across the lake, where she also fell through the ice,” the police department said in a news release.
It’s unknown whether there were any warning signs in the area about thin ice.
Max Farjado, a bystander, got a rope from his car and tried to help as first responders arrived.
“She was trying to be a hero,” Farjado told the Albany Times Union.
“This is a horrible, tragic incident,” Albany Police Chief Brendan Cox said at the scene, according to WAMC. “These are children playing. They were out doing what children do on a Saturday afternoon. They were out in the park. They were enjoying the day and tragedy struck.”
Both children attended North Albany Middle School, officials said.
Experts caution that frozen ice is never completely safe to walk on and that clear ice is stronger than opaque-colored ice.
