Girl taken to hospital after being pulled from northeast Edmonton pond

A girl in her early teens was taken to hospital Saturday after being rescued from a pond in northeast Edmonton.

The incident happened near 76th Street and 179th Avenue.

District Fire Chief Ed Pitman said emergency responders received a water rescue call just before 2 p.m. They found the girl shortly after arriving and immediately put her on advanced life-support care.

Deep mud and low water temperatures further complicated the search, Pitman said.

"Our people had a bit of a struggle to find her," he said. "The water has no visibility."

"We do these searches inch by inch along the bottom, by feel. So for us to find her as quickly as we did was very good."

The girl looked no older than 15 years old, Pitman said. He was unable to comment on why she was in the pond.

Fire rescue wasn't the first on scene, he added. As he approached the pond, Pitman said he saw a group of people trying to help the girl.

"Some local guys were trying to rescue her and, from my understanding, got caught in the mud," he said.

An ambulance with a police escort was seen leaving the area around 2:45 p.m. The ambulance was heading to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, according to Edmonton Fire Rescue Services.

The girl's condition is not known.

A STARS spokesperson confirmed that the air ambulance was put on alert but later called off.

The Edmonton Police Service is investigating.