HAZEN — Authorities say a 17-year-old boy drowned after falling through the ice in a frozen pond in eastern Arkansas.
Police in Hazen say the boy was apparently playing on the ice Saturday when it broke.
The Hazen School District said in a statement that the boy was 17-year-old Drake Jones. The release said the district was making counselors and pastors available to students Monday.
“We’re grieving as a community,” Hazen High School Principal Clint Williams told Arkansas Online, asking for prayers. “He’ll be missed. He was a smart young man.”
Williams said between 75 and 100 people gathered around a school flag pole Monday morning for a vigil in Jones’ memory.
The town of just more than 1,400 is about 40 miles east of Little Rock.
Arkansas Online reporter Brandon Riddle contributed to this report.