The boy was walking on the frozen sea in Liepaja with his dog when both suddenly fell through the ice. The young man was 400 meters from the shore, and his desperate cries for help were heard by dozens of people. Among them was a brave couple who rushed to his aid, reports the show Degpunktā (TV3).
“Talk to your children. It was terrible, because, as it turned out, no one was going to save your child,” is the conclusion of Liepaja resident Kristine about the evening when she had to become a rescuer for a child who had fallen into the sea, reports TV3.
It all started during a calm walk on the beach with her husband when they suddenly heard screams. Looking towards the frozen sea, they noticed two dark spots on the horizon. Kristine began to ask those around her what had happened. Learning that someone had fallen through the ice, the couple immediately rushed to help.
“I ran on the ice and see: everyone is standing on the pier. Everyone is standing, listening, watching. Along the edge of the ice, everyone is standing and watching, and this child… How he screamed! His voice is still ringing in my ears. How could they just listen and not try to do anything?” Kristine recounts in bewilderment.
When the couple got closer, the first to emerge from the water was a dog, and soon the boy himself managed to get out — completely soaked. The woman believes he was no older than 11 years.
“I immediately hugged him, put my jacket on him. I asked: ‘Were you alone?’ He replied: ‘I was with the dog!’ And he cried so bitterly, so hard. I said: ‘It’s okay, everything will be fine.’ I hugged him, and we went. Then the rescuers, police, and ambulance arrived. One firefighter came up, picked him up, and carried him. He was barefoot, terribly frightened, but everything ended well,” Kristine says.
The boy was walking on the sea ice several hundred meters from the shore with his dog. In severe frost, this may seem like a safe activity — after all, many have been going out onto the ice of rivers and lakes in recent days. However, strict restrictions apply to such bodies of water, and sea ice poses a completely different level of danger.
State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) representative Anete Strazdina notes that sea ice is uneven, cracks form, and ice floes shift on top of each other. Particularly dangerous is the fact that cracks are hidden under snow and therefore are not visible.
The rescue service highly praised Kristine's actions and supported her call — parents need to talk to their children.
In response to Kristine's bewilderment about the passivity of those around her on the beach, rescuers emphasize: in such situations, calling the emergency number 112 is the first priority. Only then can one assess the possibility of self-rescue — and only those who are sure they will not become victims should attempt it.
In the first two months of this year, rescuers in Latvia have already retrieved two deceased individuals from the water. Two others were saved — one of them was the very boy who fell in on Monday.
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