by Sam Lennon

slennon@thekmgroup.co.uk

Pictures of a child ballet-dancing on a frozen lake has prompted warnings of the danger of thin ice.

The image, right, of Kaylee Serfontein, 12, was seen by her horrified father - bringing back painful memories of how his toddler grandson died in freezing water eight years ago.

Kaylee had innocently shown dad Steve Serfontein the images of her, taken by her friends, playing on ice-covered Little Burton Lake in Ashford.

Mr Serfontein, 68, of Richard Meech Drive, Little Burton, said: "My daughter had walked right onto the middle of the lake.

"She showed the pictures and said 'daddy, look what we've been doing' and my heart almost stopped.

"That ice is probably only about half an inch thick and the water is 5 metres deep.

"I think any child who falls in would die."

Kaylee had been playing on the lake on Sunday when temperatures were just above freezing.

But the thaw that has set in since, intensifying the risk as the thickest remaining ice would now rapidly melt.

There is also the continued chance of cold snaps like last winter there were three in three months.

Mr Serfontein, 68 added: "I explained the situation to Kaylee and told her never to do that again. She said at the time she felt safe because other children were on the ice too. Now she understands."

His grandson, two-year-old Michael Farquharson, was accidentally pushed by a pet dog into a freezing family swimming pool in his native South Africa in 2002.

Mr Serfontein said: "It was the coldest day in South Africa and Michael had been in the water for 10 minutes before he was found.

"The nanny pulled him out, neighbours phoned an ambulance and the crew tried to resuscitate him but he was stone dead.

"He had drowned but he had also suffered shock and hypothermia.

"I couldn't bear the thought of another child dying like that."

On the same day as Kaylee's dangerous game two boys had to be rescued by firefighters from a lake in Herne Bay.

They had walked across the frozen water and were stuck on an island after the ice, which was three inches thick, cracked.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service watch manager Dick Judge warned: "Ice is very hard to judge. It may look safe but it isn't so don't attempt to walk or stand on it."