At least two of five children have died as a result of injuries suffered after a car veered off a highway ramp in suburban Minneapolis and into a freezing pond, according to the Associated Press.
Rescue workers had to smash windows to get inside the vehicle even as a tow truck pulled the car out.
The 1998 Pontiac Grand Am was under water for at least 45 minutes after the crash, according to Louis Park city spokesman Jamie Zwilling. Zwilling said the children were "unconscious and unresponsive" when pulled from the car.
The driver of the vehicle, identified as the mother and stepmother to the children, was able to make it out of the vehicle alive. One witness confirmed seeing the woman in the pond, yelling for help.
"The car was under water, and she must have been standing on top," Jeff Robertson said to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "That pond is 8 or 9 feet deep, and the water was at her knees."
The crash took place in St. Louis Park, a Minneapolis suburb, according to AP.
Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske was able to confirm the car drove off the ramp from Highway 7 to Highway 100 and then dropped down into the pond approximately 40 to 50 yards away from the road.
There is no guardrail to separate the pond from the ramp, which likely allowed the vehicle to plunge into the water.
Police identified driver as Marion Guerrido, 23, of Brooklyn Center, according to AP. The children have been identified as Aliyana E. Rennie, 1, Zenavia C. Rennie, 5, Zarihana M. Rennie, 6, Amani N. Coleman-Guerrido, 5, and Alarious M. Coleman-Guerrido, 7.
Zenavia was pronounced dead at approximately 8:30 and Alarious died between 9 and 10 p.m., according to The State Patrol. The driver was not hospitalized, through the three surviving children are still being treated for injuries as of press time.
The first victim was pulled out of the water 25 minutes after the crash was first reported at approximately 6:10 a.m., according to Roeske.
Passers-by tried to save the children from the waters before police were able to get to the scene, but the vehicle was flooded in 8 to 9 feet of "freezing-water." Roeske said the "incredibly cold, nearly freezing-temperature water" would have made it hard for someone to get to the children.
Roeske said investigators are currently working to figure out whether speed was a factor in the crash. Alcohol was not found in Guerrido's system, according to AP. The road was a little wet from a "light" mist, but was not icy at the time.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
