Bonham, Texas– Three brothers — ages 6, 8 and 9 — died in Texas during the massive winter storm sweeping the United States after falling into an icy pond across the street from a home where they were staying, authorities said Tuesday. Their mother said she jumped into the freezing water but was unable to save them.
“They were screaming and asking me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched them all struggle, struggling to stay above the water. I watched them all fight.”
The Fannin County Sheriff’s Office said the two brothers died Monday after falling into a private pond north of Bonham, a rural community of about 10,000 people near the Oklahoma border. First responders and a neighbor pulled the two older boys from the water and the younger brother was recovered after an extensive search in the pond, according to the mayor.
Hangaman said she and her children were staying at a friend’s house across the street from the pond, and she warned them not to go near him. But on Monday, she said, her youngest daughter ran to tell her that her brothers were in the water.
“I ran through as much ice as I could to get to them and eventually ended up falling on myself,” said Hangaman, who said the freezing water immediately shocked her body.
“I would pick one up and try to put it on the ice, but the ice kept breaking every time I sat it there,” she said. “I would keep trying to go to every one of them to try to help them and there was only me, like I couldn’t help them all by myself.”
Hangaman said the man who came to help was able to throw her a rope to get her out of the pool.
“I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move,” she said. “By then I knew my children were already gone. So I had to try to fight for my life at that point.”
All three boys were in elementary school in the Bonham Independent School District, which canceled classes Monday due to cold weather sweeping across much of the United States. The school district was also closed Tuesday due to severe weather conditions, including icy roads and freezing temperatures.
“We are devastated by this unimaginable loss, and our thoughts are with the family, friends and everyone who knew and loved these children,” Superintendent Lance Hamlin said in a letter to parents.
Hangaman said 8-year-old Caleb, 6-year-old Howard and 9-year-old AJ were “bubbly.” “You can’t really stop their bubbles,” she said.
On Tuesday, a layer of ice still covered much of the small pond in a wooded area.
More than 40 deaths were reported in states affected by the extreme cold.
Associated Press writers Jamie Stengel in Dallas and Cathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.
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