Arkansas Boy Critical after Icy Pond Rescue

VAN BUREN - A 5-year-old Crawford County boy was clinging to life Friday evening after spending more than an hour submerged in a pond on his parents' property.

Barry Tyler Zielinski fell through a thin layer of ice covering the 40-foot-wide pond about 100 feet from his home, Crawford County Sheriff's Deputy Aaron Beshears said.

The boy, who goes by Tyler, was listed in critical condition at 10 p.m. Friday at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock after being transferred from Sparks Regional Medical Center in Fort Smith.

Tyler lives with his parents, Audria and Barry Zielinski Sr., at 4523 Webster Branch Road, about two miles northwest of Van Buren. Beshears said Tyler's father had warned the boy and his sister earlier about venturing onto the ice, which Beshears estimated was onehalf to three-quarters of an inch thick.

Tyler was playing on the ice-covered pond when he fell through, Beshears said. His sister, who Beshears said is a little older than her brother, jumped in to try to pull him out. When she failed, she called to her mother, who was inside the house caring for an infant. Her mother also went into the water to try to save him.

At different times, five people went into the frigid pond to locate the boy, Beshears said, but none could reach him because of the intense cold. Besides the boy's mother and sister, whom Beshears could not identify by name Friday, rescues were attempted by Tyler's grandfather Frank Zielinski, District 5 volunteer firefighter John Paul Jones and Jeff Puttman of the Crawford County Dive Team.

The noontime air temperature Friday in Van Buren was about 30 degrees, according to data on the National Weather Service's Web site.

Deputies in a sheriff's office flat-bottom boat located Tyler using a dragline and pulled him from 10 feet of water at 12:45 p.m., Beshears said. The sheriff's office had received the 911 call from the Zielinski home at 11:42 a.m.

Beshears said he and Van Buren police Lt. Brent Grill began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Tyler as soon as he was in the boat. The lifesaving effort was continued as he was rushed to an ambulance.

Emergency personnel in the ambulance were able to get a pulse and heartbeat from Tyler and stabilized his condition, Beshears said. Tyler was then transferred to a waiting helicopter and was flown to the Fort Smith hospital.

"Every officer and authority in this acted very heroically," Beshears said. "They put their lives on the line to save this boy's life." When the sheriff's office got the 911 call from Audria Zielinski, Beshears said he and Deputy Patti Bonewell were in the area and arrived at the Zielinski property in five minutes.

Meanwhile, Frank Zielinski, who lives nearby, ran to the property and jumped into the water to try to save the boy but was overcome by the cold.

Beshears and Bonewell arrived in time to help Frank Zielinski from the water. Beshears said Frank Zielinski was admitted to Summit Medical Center in Van Buren for observation Friday.

Jones also arrived shortly after the 911 call and volunteered to go into the pond. A rope was tied around his waist, and he jumped in, but within minutes he was overwhelmed by the cold and had to be helped out.

The dive team and others soon arrived, but Puttman, dressed in cold-water diving gear, was too buoyant to swim to the bottom and was overcome by the cold, Beshears said.

This article was published 02/03/2007

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