Three young brothers have died in Bonham, north Texas, after falling through ice on a private pond on Monday.

Cheyenne Hangaman, the boys' mother, said she tried to rescue them by lifting them out of the water and placing them on the ice, but it kept breaking.

"There was three of them and only one of me... that's why I couldn't save them," she told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

She described her sons, aged six, eight and nine, as full of personality and urged families to "make sure that you hold your kids tight, always tell them that you love them".

Cheyenne Hangaman says she tried to save her three children by lifting them out of the water

Three young brothers have died in Bonham, north Texas, after falling through ice on a private pond on Monday.

Cheyenne Hangaman, the boys' mother, said she tried to rescue them by lifting them out of the water and placing them on the ice, but it kept breaking.

"There was three of them and only one of me... that's why I couldn't save them," she told CBS News, the BBC's US partner.

She described her sons, aged six, eight and nine, as full of personality and urged families to "make sure that you hold your kids tight, always tell them that you love them".

This story contains graphic content that some readers may find distressing.

Hangaman, a mother of six, first learned of the accident when her daughter ran over to her, shouting that the boys had fallen in.

The children had been out playing near the pond, about 100ft (30m) away from the house where the family had been staying.

The youngest fell through first after trying to "ice skate" on the layer of ice on the water, Hangaman said, adding that the two older boys then jumped in after him.

"When I seen them, they were struggling, and I know their bodies were already in shock," she said. "The water was freezing cold."

While trying to save them, she began to struggle and was rescued by a neighbour.

"I tried to fight for my kids' life, where I had to watch them struggle and drown and I couldn't help them," she said.

The neighbour, a football coach at the school the boys attended, heard her screams and was able to pull her out of the water.

"He said he heard the screaming or the call for help and came running. My friend had a horse rope, and he pulled me out with it," Hangaman said.

In a statement, the local sheriff's office said the two older boys were pulled out of the water first by emergency workers and a neighbour, and taken to a local hospital.

The six-year-old was later recovered after "an extensive search of the pond", the office added.

Authorities did not release the children's names, but family members identified them as Howard Doss, six, Kaleb Doss, eight, and EJ Doss, nine.

Describing her sons, Hangaman said EJ dreamed of becoming a football star, Kaleb loved to dance and sing, and the youngest, Howard, "liked making people laugh".

The boys' school said they were "devastated by this unimaginable loss" in a letter to families seen by CBS News and that counsellors would be available to meet students and staff.

Their deaths come as a deadly winter storm hit a wide swathe of the US, including Texas, over the last week, killing more than 20 people and leaving several thousands without power. (BBC)

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