Boy, 2, dies after fall into frozen pond

A 2 1/2-year-old boy died Tuesday night after he fell into a frozen pond in Lincoln County.

The boy had been airlifted to Kalispell Regional Medical Center early Tuesday afternoon after being pulled, unresponsive, from the pond.

He was pronounced dead at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the hospital.

According to a press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, at about 12:37 p.m., emergency responders were called to the Edna Creek area in north Lincoln County, where the boy was reported to have been missing for two hours.

When law enforcement and search-and-rescue personnel arrived at the scene, the boy’s family already had found him in a frozen pond about half a mile south of their home and pulled him out of a hole in the ice. 

Family members had begun CPR, which responders took over upon their arrival.

The ALERT medical helicopter was called and the boy was transported to the Kalispell hospital.

Along with the Sheriff’s Office, CAN-AM Search and Rescue, Eureka Volunteer Ambulance, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Border Patrol responded to the initial call.