Girl, 12, dies when snow fort collapses on her

A 12-year-old Chicago-area girl died when a snow fort she had been building collapsed on her and a friend in the mid-winter freeze.

The girl was building the snow fort with a 9-year-old girl outside the Rothem Church in Arlington Heights, Ill., on Sunday while their families participated in church services, according to Arlington Heights police Sgt. Charles Buczynski.

About an hour after the girls left the church, members of their families went looking for them and discovered a piece of one of the girls’ clothing sticking out of the snow, Buczynski told The Post.

The police don’t know how long the two girls were under the snow or how much snow was piled on top of them because there were no video cameras at the scene, Buczynski said.

“By the time police and fire personnel responded to the scene, they were already out of the snow,” he added.

It was roughly 14 degrees in Arlington Heights at the time the girls were in the snow, according to the National Weather Service.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the 12-year-old girl as Esther Jung of Elk Grove Village, according to the Chicago Tribune.

She was pronounced dead about 4:30 p.m. at Northwest Community Hospital, the paper reported.

The younger girl remains at the hospital, where she is being treated for hypothermia.

“The 9-year-old is expected to make a full recovery,” Buczynski said.

“She is expected to be fine. She doesn’t have any other injuries.”