A devastating pond accident in Bonham, North Texas, has claimed the lives of three young brothers during a winter storm that has gripped the region. The tragic incident occurred on Monday when the children, identified as Howard (6), Kaleb (8), and EJ (9) Doss, fell through thin ice while playing near a private pond approximately 30 meters from their temporary residence.
According to their mother, Cheyenne Hangaman, the youngest brother initially broke through the ice while attempting to ‘ice skate’ on the frozen surface. His two older siblings subsequently jumped into the freezing water in a valiant attempt to rescue him. Hangaman, a mother of six, immediately rushed to the scene upon being alerted by her daughter.
Despite her heroic efforts to extract the children from the subzero water, the fragile ice repeatedly collapsed beneath her weight. ‘There was three of them and only one of me… that’s why I couldn’t save them,’ Hangaman emotionally recounted to CBS News. The distraught mother described witnessing her children struggling in hypothermic shock before ultimately succumbing to drowning.
The situation escalated when Hangaman herself became trapped in the freezing pond, requiring rescue by a neighbor who heard her desperate cries for help. The neighbor, identified as a football coach at the boys’ school, utilized a horse rope to pull her to safety.
Emergency responders and additional neighbors eventually recovered all three children from the pond. The two older boys were initially transported to a local hospital while the youngest required an extensive search operation before being recovered.
The tragedy has deeply affected the local community, with the boys’ school announcing the availability of grief counselors for students and staff. The incident coincides with a severe winter storm system that has impacted large portions of the United States, resulting in numerous fatalities and widespread power outages across Texas.