A pair of siblings probably collapsed and died on a slightly frozen reservoir in southern Thuringia. The 22-year-old and her 13-year-old brother were rescued dead by divers from the water reservoir near Westhausen in the Hildburghausen district on Saturday morning, police commissioner Vivien Glagau said. There had been a breach on the reservoir, which was covered with a thin layer of ice. “It was just a short distance from shore.”
The layer of ice on the lake was only about two to three centimeters thick – not enough to carry the load of two people. It is still unclear when and why the two ran onto the lake. “Whether they wanted to slide ice – we don’t know,” said Glagau.
According to the police, the two had been traveling by car on Friday. Accordingly, they were last seen around 4 p.m.
When the young woman and her brother didn’t answer the phone, the worried parents first went looking for their children themselves. Shortly before midnight, the mother then alerted the police: they had discovered their daughter’s car at the reservoir. The police and lifeguards then searched for the siblings in large numbers. A police dog was also on duty. Divers finally recovered the woman and the boy on Saturday morning around 8.30 a.m. – both lifeless.
“We assume an accident,” said Glagau. There are currently no signs of third-party debt. The Kripo Suhl leads the further investigations into the accident. The parents could not initially be questioned in detail. They were cared for by a crisis intervention team. According to the police, the family comes from the Hildburghausen district.
