A 12-year-old girl has died and another girl was injured after a snowbank they had built a fort in collapsed on top of them in suburban Arlington Heights, police confirm.
According to police and fire officials, officers were called to Rothem Church, located in the 100 block of East College Drive, just before 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. When they arrived on the scene, they discovered that two girls had built a fort in a snowbank, and that the snow had collapsed on top of them.
A 9-year-old girl was treated for hypothermia and is being held for observation at Northwest Community Hospital, but the other girl, who was taken to the same hospital, was pronounced dead at 4:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Family members said that the two girls went outside to play during church services, and when they hadn’t returned after an hour, they went outside to look for them before discovering them underneath the snow.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office will perform an autopsy on Monday, police said.
There is no reason to suspect foul play, according to police.
