Three brothers, aged 6-9, died on 26/1 in a pond on private land north of Bonham, Texas, United States. At the time of the incident, all three children were out of school due to freezing weather blanketing much of the country.

Cheyenne Hangaman, the mother of the three children, stated that she and her children had been at a friend's house across the road, opposite the pond. Hangaman had repeatedly warned the children to stay away from the pond, but her daughter suddenly ran to inform her that her brothers "were drowning".

The mother of six children said Howard, the youngest of the three brothers, apparently wanted to ice skate on the pond and fell into the water when the ice broke. His two older brothers, Kaleb and EJ, immediately jumped in to save him.

The pond where Hangaman's three sons died, pictured on 27/1. *Photo: AP*

She immediately ran to the pond to save the children. "They screamed for their mother. I had to watch the children struggle to get out of the water, fighting for their lives", Hangaman recalled.

The mother ran on the ice to reach her children but also fell into the water. Hangaman tried to pull each child onto the ice, but the thin ice kept breaking. "I tried to get to each one to help them, but I couldn't save them all by myself", Hangaman shared.

A man came to assist and threw a rope to pull Hangaman from the pond. "I couldn't breathe or move. At that moment, I knew my children were gone, and I was fighting for my own life", the mother said.

Emergency responders and a neighbor later pulled the two older brothers from the water, while the youngest child was only found after an extensive search.

As of 27/1, the historic winter storm had claimed over 40 lives in the United States.