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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Chiara Fiorillo & Richard Vernalls

Aston Villa stars pay tribute to Solihull frozen lake victims after three boys died

Aston Villa stars have paid tribute to three boys who died after being pulled from a frozen lake in Solihull on Sunday.

The team's centre-back Tyrone Mings and midfielder John McGinn were pictured at Babbs Mill Park, where they looked at floral tributes laid near the scene of the tragedy, saying "we feel that pain".

They also left their own tribute, some red roses with a message reading: "RIP from all at AVFC."

Mings said: "It was a personal decision to pay our respects. I think it's impacted the whole city.

"We felt it was important to come down on a personal level just to show that support. Sometimes, as we've seen with other things that have happened across the city, there are things more important than football.

"We felt it was important to come down here, show our respects and show we were thinking about everything that has happened and the parents that are affected by it. We feel that pain too."

Aston Villa centre-back Tyrone Mings and midfielder John McGinn at Babbs Mill Park in Solihull (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

The tragedy has united the city's rival football clubs, Aston Villa and Birmingham City - whose head coach John Eustace on Tuesday laid a wreath at the memorial on behalf of the Blues.

McGinn said: "We were in Dubai when we heard the news and I thought of my nieces and nephews, and the players thought about their kids.

"It was certainly moving for us. We saw John Eustace come down yesterday and myself and Tyrone thought it would be good for us to pay our respects.

Tyrone Mings and John McGinn from Aston Villa said they feel the pain the community feels (Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)

"I'm sure tomorrow night in the friendly against Villareal, the Villa family will come together and pay our respects to what is a tragic event so close to home."

McGinn said: "Nothing can sum up what the families will be thinking, what the community will be thinking. But it just shows what a close-knit community it is."

Mings added: "It's a really sad situation for everybody, we wanted to pay our respects.

John McGinn at the scene of the tragedy (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

"It's touched everybody and made everybody really come together.

"We try and pay our respects as a football club, but this was kind of on a personal level.

"We were also thinking of everybody involved and it seemed a small gesture for us to come down and pay our respects. We felt it was important to do so."

Staff from schools laying flowers and tributes (Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)

Later on Wednesday, staff from nearby John Henry Newman Catholic College and Kingshurst Primary School both spent a few minutes looking at the flowers and reading messages on cards including heartfelt tributes to the "Babbs Mill Boys" and the "Three Kings of Kingshurst".

Members of the community in Kingshurst are continuing to grapple with the shock of events over the weekend.

At a makeshift memorial, people have continued to add bouquets to an ever-growing carpet of flowers while one group tied balloons of red and gold to nearby railings.

Meanwhile, West Midlands Police said a fourth boy, aged six, who was rescued from the icy waters on Sunday was still in hospital, in a critical condition.

The community has been left heartbroken after the tragedy (Darren Quinton/Birmingham Live)

A witness at the scene where the boys died said he felt "helpless" seeing their bodies being pulled from the icy water.

The children aged eight, 10 and 11 died after falling into the frozen lake in the afternoon.

Local man Dan Hall, 38, said he rushed to the scene after hearing a commotion at about 2:40pm.

"It's quite common to hear sirens around here but when you're hearing a lot more you start to worry," he said.

Footballer Tyrone Mings paid tribute to the victims of the tragedy (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

"I ran down to where it was and there was a girl on a bike about 13 with a younger girl, I presume her sister.

"I asked her ‘what's going on?’ and she said there were some kids on the lake and said 'my brother my brother'.

"She was hysterical. The older one was saying to her, ‘don't think like that’.

"I saw a police officer walking up and he was drenched. You just feel helpless. I got down there and saw a few more people and it was hysterical."

The footballers looked at tributes left at the scene of the tragedy (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

Families of the children involved were "absolutely devastated", Chief Supt Harris said, with special support being offered.

Dan added: "I saw a guy down there and it was possibly his son and he had a police officer consoling him. He was screaming.

"Then they pulled the first one out. I took my jacket off and gave them my coat and stuff. They'd already been under there 10-15 minutes or so.

"I gave my coat and I ran back up to my home to get more stuff. I saw the second kid get pulled out and there's no words to describe it.

"I was seeing a child who was clearly dead. I grabbed a few more jackets and towels and ran back and just handed them over. By this time they'd had the third one out.

"Eventually they started wheeling them up and they were still pumping the kids on the stretchers.

"From what I heard one was seven but he didn't look much older. One didn't even have a top on, they were still performing CPR.

A floral tribute left by Villa players at Babbs Mill Park (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

"It's freezing there. When I went down the second time there was a grown man getting his legs seen to as he'd gone in the lake.

"From what I heard it sounds like one has gone out, fallen through and then the others have gone to help."

After the tragedy, a school said it was "in bits" after a pupil died in the frozen lake.

The footballers were emotional as they visited Babbs Mill Park today (Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

Marcus Brain, chairman of nearby St Anthony's School board of governors, said: "One of our children has passed away. I have spoken to the family but I'm doing the communication through the school.

"We have had some additional resource in. The school is open if children want to come in. The staff are absolutely devastated. The lad was a lovely boy.

"Everybody is in bits. We're all in shock, what's happened is unbelievable."

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