Madness: The pair stroll blithely past a warning sign on an icy pond at Wimbledon Common, south-west London Walking over thin ice is a perilous activity at the best of times.
Yet this woman walking hand-in-hand with a young girl across a frozen pond, appears to encourage her to take the risk of falling through.
Seeming to ignore the warning sign saying ‘thin ice’, she blithely led the child over the treacherous surface to a preparatory school on the opposite side.
The child, who appeared to be around five years of age, clung onto the woman’s hand as they risked plunging through the two-inch thick ice and into the freezing murky water beneath.
The shocking picture was captured at Rushmere pond on Wimbledon Common, south-west London, as the pair decided to take a shortcut to the girl’s £3,000-a-term school, The Study.
Today the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents condemned the woman for ignoring the signs and advised people to stay off the ice.
It comes just two days after six-year-old Thomas Hudson was trapped in freezing water for 30 minutes after falling through an ice-covered lake in Crookham Common, Berkshire.
In Wimbledon, horrified locals who saw the pair dicing with death described the ice covering the 300-yards-wide pond as just two inches thick.
The water below was believed to be 6ft deep and filled with reeds. ‘I was completely dumbfounded when I saw them,’ said one onlooker.
Dicing with death: The woman was taking a shortcut to the girl's £3,000-a-term preparatory school‘They both walked very gingerly up to the pond and then I stared in disbelief as she first tested whether the ice would hold her weight before leading the girl onto it.
‘I watched them walk about 10ft away from the edge and they then spent about 10 minutes on the pond.
‘The woman was holding onto the child very tightly but the ice could have cracked at anytime - it was sheer madness.’
The school the child attends, which is for girls aged four to 11 years, was opened at 10am today despite the snow and ice.
Two teenage boys were later also seen jumping up and down on the same ice covered pond for 45 minutes in a deliberate attempt to crack it and potentially send them dangerously plunging into the water.
Fortunately for them, the ice did not break.
Danger: The frozen lake six-year-old Thomas Hudson fell in at Crookham Common, Berkshire on Tuesday Jo Stagg, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: ‘We are surprised that someone has chosen to ignore a sign which clearly warns of thin ice.
‘We wouldn’t advise anyone to go on to the ice where there are signs such as this and we certainly wouldn’t encourage adults to take children on to the ice at these locations.
‘Although it can look tempting, it’s very difficult to know how thick it is, particularly when it is covered by frost or snow and therefore whether or not it will hold your weight.
‘By the time you find out that it won’t, it’s often too late.
‘Winter is a great time for children and adults to get out and about to explore, but ice-related drownings are entirely and easily preventable.
‘Stay off the ice of deep water and follow any safety information given at particular locations.’
Thomas Hudson remained on the critical list at the John Radcliffe Hospital today.
source: dailymail
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