A devastating tragedy struck a rural Texas community on Monday when three elementary school-age brothers died after falling through ice on a private pond, becoming among the latest victims of a massive winter storm that has killed more than 40 people across the United States.
First responders and a neighbor managed to pull the bodies of the two older boys from the frigid water, but the youngest child did not resurface and was later recovered following an extensive search of the pond. All three were pronounced dead.
The children were staying at a friend's house across the street from the pond. Their mother, Cheyenne Hangaman, said she had warned them to stay away from the water, but learned from her youngest daughter that her sons had fallen in.
"I ran across as much ice as I could to get to them and eventually ended up falling in myself," Hangaman said.
She described the immediate shock of the freezing water and her desperate attempts to rescue her sons. "I would grab one, try to put him on ice, but the ice just kept breaking every time I would sit him up there," she said.
"They were just screaming, telling me to help them," she said. "And I watched all of them struggle, struggle to stay above the water. I watched all of them fight."
Unable to save all three boys alone, Hangaman said a bystander threw her a rope to pull her from the pond. She recalled that she couldn’t breathe or move, and "by that time, I knew that my kids were already gone. So I just had to try to fight for my life at that point."
All three brothers were students in the Bonham Independent School District, which had canceled Monday's classes due to the severe cold sweeping across much of the United States. The district remained closed on Tuesday as frigid temperatures and icy conditions persisted throughout the region.
Lance Hamlin, superintendent of the Bonham Independent School District, said in a letter to parents. "We are devastated by this unimaginable loss, and our thoughts are with the family, friends, and all who knew and loved these children," Hamlin wrote on behalf of the school community.
The three brothers are among the latest victims of a massive winter storm that has claimed more than 40 lives across the nation. The storm has deposited over a foot of snow across a 1,300-mile stretch from Arkansas to New England, halting traffic, canceling thousands of flights, and triggering widespread school closures.