‘They were just screaming.’ Mom unable to save 3 sons who fell through icy pond in Texas

BONHAM, Texas (AP) — Three brothers — ages 6, 8 and 9 — died in Texas during the massive winter storm gripping the U.S. after falling through an icy pond across the street from a house where they were staying, authorities said Tuesday. Their mother said she jumped into the freezing water but wasn’t able to save them.

“They were just screaming, telling me to help them,” Cheyenne Hangaman told The Associated Press. “And I watched all of them struggle, struggle to stay above the water. I watched all of them fight.”

The brothers died on Monday after falling into the private pond north of Bonham, a rural community of about 10,000 people near the Oklahoma border, the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office said. First responders and a neighbor pulled the two older boys from the water and the youngest sibling was recovered after an extensive search of the pond, according to the sheriff.

Hangaman said she and her children had been staying at a friend’s house across the street from the pond, and that she’d warned them to not go near it. But, she said, on Monday her youngest daughter ran to tell her that her brothers were in the water.

“I ran across as much ice as I could to get to them and eventually ended up falling in myself,” said Hangaman, who said the freezing water immediately shocked her body.

“I would grab one, try to put hi...