9-Year-Old Boy Dies After Falling Through Ice In Sparta

Officials with the Sparta Police Department say that the nine-year-old boy who was rescued by dive teams Sunday afternoon died at a hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. Police say first responders were called to Fisherman’s Park at around 3:10 PM Sunday for a report that two children fell through the ice on Perch Lake. Emergency personnel arrived to find one child safely on shore and a 12-year-old child clinging to the ice in the water. Officers used ropes to rescue the 12-year-old from the lake and the child was transported to Mayo Clinic in Sparta for treatment. First responders then learned that a third child went underwater and did not surface. With the use of an underwater camera, dive teams found the third child underwater. Police say the nine-year-old was pulled from the water and airlifted to a hospital in Rochester, Minnesota where he later died.