A three-year-old boy died after being pulled from the water at Kindley Field Road, while his two-year-old brother was left in intensive care.

Both boys were rushed to hospital yesterday afternoon after being found lying face down in the water.

The accident happened during the weekly powerboat races in St. George's around 1.30 p.m.

Witnesses told this newspaper the boys were playing in the water and moments later they were both "face down".

Attempts were made to resuscitate the boys at the scene.

Both were rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital by ambulance where the three-year-old died as a result of his injuries.

The two-year-old is being monitored in the hospital's ICU.

Heather Roque, an off-duty emergency medical technician was on the scene and tried to help the brothers.

She was visibly shaken after the accident and said: "I did CPR on both. I know that one was breathing and OK when I finished and I don't know about the other one. I don't know. It happened pretty fast."

Her husband Chris commended the Police officers who arrived at the scene quickly.

"There were firefighters, Police officers, EMTs it was all hands on deck in seconds really."

Witnesses said they were shocked because one minute everything was fine and the boats were getting ready to start the race.

The next minute, the scene turned into chaos with people trying to save the boys.

One woman said: "The boys were found facing down. A lady found them.

"They were playing in the water just fine and then they were facing down. One woke up and the other wasn't responding."

She continued: "I think the mother was actually working at the hot dog stand. And somebody told me that one of the boys had asthma.

"What I think happened was they were playing in the shallow part and then panicked. They probably couldn't stand anymore."

One man said: "You need to know how to swim in Bermuda. It's very important."

Another woman said she saw people rushing over to help.

"We just saw one they were working on and the other they were working on him for a little while. We just saw people trying to help.

"They were only in for a few minutes. The seven-year-old brother was supposed to be watching them."

Another woman said: When we saw the ambulance, we thought somebody passed out because of the heat. This is devastating."

The boat races were then cancelled because the ambulance that was on site was used to take the boys to the hospital.

Races are not allowed to continue without an ambulance on site. They start at 1 p.m. and finish around 5 p.m.

Police Media Relations manager Dwayne Caines confirmed the death of the child and said: "At 1.30 p.m. Sunday, Police received a report of two boys, aged two and three-years-old having been pulled from the water at Kindley Field Road, St. Georges, near to the BAS kitchen.

"Attempts were made to resuscitate both children at the scene by an off duty EMT, and they both were rushed to KEMH by St. John's Ambulance where the three-year-old boy died as a result of his injuries and the two-year-old is currently in ICU.

"Police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed this tragic incident to contact Police on 2950011.

'Police are also interested in speaking with anyone who may have captured the incident on any recording device, camcorder or cellular devise please contact Police on 2950011."