Twin brothers who didn’t know how to swim die after divers pull pair from pond

A family is grieving nearly three days after Fire Rescue divers pulled a pair of 13-year-old twin brothers who didn’t know how to swim out of a pond in Miami-Dade’s Pinewood neighborhood. They later died.

There were red heart-shaped balloons, candles, and toys where one of the boys fell into the pond while “horse playing,” and the other jumped in to help at Arthur Woodard Park, at 1220 NW 99 St.

Witnesses said one of the boys appeared to have been tangled in the legs in the underwater weeds when the divers pulled him out.

“I would hope that changes will be made to make it safer for other children so others don’t have to deal with what we are going through right now,” Joinel Louis, the boy’s stepfather, said in Creole.

After quickly pulling the first teen out of the pond, three divers continued their search through invasive aquatic plants for the second teenage boy, who took them longer to find, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Fire rescue personnel took both teenage boys, who were in critical condition, in two separate ambulances to North Shore Hospital.

A doctor pronounced one dead first. The other was in critical but stable condition, but his condition deteriorated, and he later died, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.