Boy falls through ice, dies

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A six-year-old boy has died and his brother was in hospital after both fell through ice north of Calgary.

RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters says they got a 911 call Monday afternoon from a woman who saw the boys fall through the ice on a canal in Airdrie.

Peters says firefighters got the brothers out of the water.

The six-year-old was taken by air ambulance to Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary and was pronounced dead.

The 10-year-old was also in hospital in serious condition and Peters says his prognosis was good.

Peters says recent warm weather has affected the ice in small bodies of water, adding he's not sure if there were warnings to stay off the canal in Airdrie.

"The ponds and the canals in all these areas that take on drainage this time of year,they're not going to be stable, they're not going to be safe to be on. Hopefully we can get everyone to stay away from those."

Peters said it happened in the Bayside neighbourhood of Airdrie.

"All the houses in that area back onto the canal system. It has a park around it and people recreate there."

Monday was Family Day in Alberta, a statutory holiday.

"It's awful, it's pretty hard to talk about it," Peters said.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the older boy was eight.