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Boys Rescued After Falling Through Ice On Queens Pond
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 26, 2019
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NYC Parks Department
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 26, 2019
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Two boys who had been playing on a frozen Queens pond had to be rescued when the ice gave way, plunging them into freezing water.
The boys, ages 9 and 12, fell into Strack Memorial Pond in Forest Park on Christmas afternoon, around 3 p.m. The Post reports, "A third boy, whose age wasn’t immediately known, used a wooden rescue ladder to help fish them out before first responders arrived, according to cops and a witness."
A dog walker said, "One of them threw a Parks Department ladder out on the ice... They had gotten themselves out before cops got here. They were sitting there shivering."
The boys were taken to Jamaica Medical Center in stable condition.
It is the same pond where a boy died after falling through the ice in 2018.
"With the sudden and extreme drop in temperatures, our water bodies have begun to freeze, and this is when they can be most dangerous. No matter how fun the ice may look, anyone walking on the ice is taking a big risk with their life," Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver said.
One man who saw the commotion told WCBS 2, "We got to the park my son and I and we saw a police helicopter circling I got a little nervous cause we were planning on going to the woods. I taught him what to look for on the ice and to feel it and to listen."
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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