Disaster at the pond: passersby rescued children playing and breaking on ice

Fortunately, the passing men responded to their friend’s call for help, brought out the disasters. One is treated in clinics in Kaunas.

Vaidas Buinauskas from Alytus shows the scene of the disaster. At night, he was passing by the pond called Snaigė by the locals, when he saw the children distracted on the street, they were crying for help.

“At first I thought it was mischievous, but a car stopped because I know it was a pond, I thought something had happened. One child shouted: “the brother is drowning, the friend is drowning,” says Vaidas Buinauskas of Alytus, who saved the children.

In the evening, a group of students were playing when, suddenly, broken 10- and 13-year-old children began to drown. Friends flew in for help. Vaid jumped out of the car and flew straight into the ice-covered pond to help disaster. Under his feet, the ice also broke.

“My hands turned to the children, because there was no more time to think, because only a child’s nose was out and it was close to sinking to the bottom. I wanted to take it first, but the other boy instinctively started to hold on to me, he no longer reached the bottom, ”says V. Buinauskas.

The man was pushed to the ground by the man. Another man with a rope escaped, he pulled the old man out of the water, but when he turned around he could no longer see the young man, he was already submerged.

“With that man, Nerijus Stanevičius, we are back again, and due to a happy coincidence, I hooked his leg from below and lifted it from behind the leg, it was very close here for a few more seconds and we would not have found it”, says V.

Firefighters also arrived at that time and rushed to rescue the boy.

“Icy, cold water, just welcome that there were no indifferent people, she raised that child and passed him on to her classmates. He said he was no longer breathing. He started with artificial respiration, his breathing recovered, ”said firefighter Juozas Stankevičius.

The decade of regaining consciousness was handed over to the doctors and quickly brought to the Kaunas clinics. And while the specialists resurrected the friend, the oldest, who was frozen, drenched and in shock, sniffed his house.

“I saved two lives, it could have ended differently. Thank God,” says V. Buinauskas.

Residents say there have been many tragedies here. A decade ago, Alytus’ Donatas cousin drowned here – the man turned to city authorities and asked them to shut down the body of water.

“I saw how many children died here, there are about ten. This pond is not suitable for swimming, it is a pond of fire, with steep banks, it is difficult to get out, ”says Donatas Žmuidzinavičius from Alytus.

Authorities have posted warning signs that it would be difficult to fence.

“How to make sure it is always open to the fire service. This would raise a lot of questions. If you see this territory, what kind of landscape is it, then what kind of two-meter fence would be needed here or with spikes so that no one enters,” he says Palmira Raškauskienė, director of the Alytus municipality administration.

Firefighters warn that the ice is now extremely thin, making it extremely dangerous to climb on it. This could end in tragedy.