PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ/Gray News) – Two boys were rescued from a frozen pond after calling 911 with a submerged phone.
Earlier this month, 12-year-old Jackson Herrmann and his 16-year-old cousin played on a pond that had frozen over despite his mom’s orders not to.
“I’d caught the boys on the pond earlier in the day and I told them that it wasn’t safe and to stay off the pond,” Melissa Herrmann said.
Within 15 minutes of playing on what they thought was frozen solid ice, Jackson’s cousin fell through the ice into freezing water. Knowing his cousin couldn’t swim, Jackson ran over to help him.
“There was no way I was going to pull him out,” Jackson said. “So, we both fell in about the same time. It was less than like 30 seconds before I was in with him.”
After falling in and struggling to get back out, Jackson thought about his phone in his back pocket. Although it didn’t have any service and was underwater, it still allowed him to call 911.
The boys held on to fragile ice for about 10 minutes until the fire and rescue crews arrived to pull them out of the pond.
“I couldn’t feel anything from my neck down. I barely could walk. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger I guess,” Jackson said.
Herrmann and the boys know that the outcome could have been a lot different.
“It could have been a whole lot different if he hadn’t have thought about that phone and that phone had not worked. It was the difference between life and death because I would have probably been pulling bodies out the water. So, I’m very thankful,” Herrman said.
She grew up near the pond and she says this is the first time she’s ever seen it completely frozen over.
Both boys are OK and say that will be the last time they ever play on a frozen pond.
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