Two boys hospitalized after falling into Palatine pond

Two young boys were hospitalized after falling into an icy pond Wednesday afternoon in Palatine.

Palatine police and firefighters responded about 3:30 p.m. to reports that a group of juveniles had fallen into a pond on the 800 block of West Panorama Drive in the Clayson apartment complex near Quentin Road.

Witnesses watched helplessly as fire department divers mounted a frantic search.

"I don't know, like a feeling I never felt in my life, like seeing two kids like that, going through that type of stuff," Deandre Boatman told ABC 7 Chicago.

Boatman said he heard a woman at the apartment complex screaming.

"We ran out the house, we looked to the left, and we just see two kids like trying to gasp for air, trying to come up out the water," he said.

Boatman told ABC 7 his brother-in-law and the mother of the two boys tried to get to the children but the ice was too thin and the water too cold.

Witnesses told the TV station that one of the boys, who appeared to be about 4 years old, was under water for about 10 minutes before rescue divers found him. They said the older boy, who appeared to be about 7, was under water for about 20 minutes.

The boys were taken to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.