Tragedies in Succession... Sister Dies Saving Younger Brother in Ice, Police Officer Dies Saving That Girl

Published 27 Feb.2021 11:47(KST)

Lake at Rocky Fork Park, Ohio, USA. Photo by Twitter capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Hana Na] In the United States, a teenage girl died after saving her younger brother who had fallen into icy water, and a police officer who tried to rescue the girl also lost his life.

According to ABC News and others on the 27th (local time), on the evening of the 23rd, a 16-year-old girl and her 13-year-old brother were playing on a frozen lake near the dock at Rocky Fork State Park in Hillsboro, Ohio, when the ice broke and they fell into the water.

The younger brother was able to get out of the water with his sister's help and survived, but the sister was pulled under the ice while trying to save him and could not come out. The brother, struggling to save his sister, asked a nearby construction worker for help, pleading to save her, and the construction worker reported the incident to the fire department around 6:30 p.m.

Police and firefighters who responded immediately deployed divers to search for the girl, and after nearly five hours, around 11 p.m., they found her in the icy water. At that time, the girl was unconscious and was taken to the hospital but was eventually pronounced dead. The brother is currently in stable condition.

Jason Laguer, a police officer with 15 years of experience who was deployed to the scene that day, also drowned while rescuing the girl under the ice and died in the line of duty. The coroner stated that initial investigations suggest Laguer appeared to have suffered a heart attack.

The police chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said, "A beloved colleague passed away last night while on duty. We feel a heavy responsibility toward his family and express our deepest condolences." It was reported that Laguer leaves behind a wife and two young sons.