The children boasted that the ice was so thick that they could walk across the frozen river. I asked them to demonstrate, my camera at the ready. The first girl placed her booted foot onto the supposedly solid ice, fell straight through, and disappeared into the dark watery depths. All that was left on the surface was the weak trail of bubbles of her final breath.

A man nearby dived in to drag her out again. Pulled from the icy water, her body limp and her face blue, she breathed once more – just.