Lourdes Cuevas and her daughter Maia Ramirez are visiting New York from Paraguay. They said they have never seen so much ice before and were taking a selfie on Monday in Central Park to memorialize the moment. However, just as they took the photo, seven kids, from around 10 years of age to their teens, headed out onto the ice-covered pond in the park. According to Cuevas, they initially threw rocks to test the strength of the ice, and finally decided to walk out onto it. The kids called out to Cuevas, telling her to take a selfie and that the ice was solid.

However, just at that moment, the ice began to break and the kids fell into the icy cold water.

Kids screamed as the ice broke, sending them into the water in Central Park

Cuevas told NBC 4 that one of the kids disappeared completely under the water, while others madly tried to grab at the edges of the ice, screaming as they tried to escape. Two skateboarders saw what was happening and rushed to the kids’ rescue and soon afterward, firefighters arrived to pull the kids out of the water. According to Patch, some of the group was still recovering from hypothermia-related injuries at three local hospitals in New York City on Tuesday morning.

Rescuers in the right place at the right time in Central Park

The two skateboarders, Bennett Jonas, who hails from San Clemente, Ca. and Ethan Turnbull, from Sydney, Australia, told local reporters they saw the kids playing around on the ice and suddenly disappearing into the water as the ice cracked.

Reportedly Jonas dived into the water to rescue the kids, while Turnbull stood nearby, ready to grab the youngsters as they came out. The pair said it was a case of being in the right place at the right time with Turnbull adding that he was there in the park for a reason that night.

After the incident, the FDNY took to Facebook to warn people never to walk on frozen water in Central Park or elsewhere.

The post stressed that there is “no such thing as safe ice” regardless of how cold the temperature is at the time, saying water in the local city parks might seem to be frozen solid, but is, in fact, rarely solid enough to walk on. The FDNY ended by stressing that people were not only risking their own lives, but also those of the first responders.
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