Frozen lake warning

Parents living in Somersham are being asked to make sure their children don't play on a nearby frozen lake.

A number of children were spotted playing on a frozen lake at The Trundle in Somersham.

Someone living nearby contacted police after noticing the children in the field.

By the time police arrived, the children had left.

Officers then noticed a tyre track across the frozen lake that indicated a bike had been ridden across it.

Police Constable Les Elmer said: "As tempting as it is for children to play on the ice, they risk falling in if it cracks.

"If a child falls in, at best it will prompt a dangerous rescue attempt by emergency services and at worst we could be dealing with a child's death."

Dr Claire Lehman currently in the Antarctic with the British Antartic Survey told us how your body will react if you fall through ice...

"What you'll find yourself doing is you'll be gasping and you'll be breathing really really fast, and you won't be able to catch your breath. 

This will lead to you panicing and the reason it's so bad is that when you are gasping for breath and trying desperately to get out, if you did take a breath and you happened to be under water at the same time you are going to drown."

Corporal Kevin Gormley who runs the local fitness-club Forces Fit, had to jump into freezing water as part of his army-training, he says it does not matter how fit you are...

"It can affect anyone, it really doesn't matter who you are you could be the fittest guy in the world or an Olympic athlete, the human body is just not designed to be submerged in the freezing cold water for any period of time-if it happens it's going to have serious consequences."