Boy dies saving pal

Tragedy after 1st kid falls through ice in Qns.

A heroic 11-year-old boy died after he jumped into a frozen Queens pond to save his 12-yearold friend, who had fallen through the ice, authorities said.

The accident happened as Anthony Perez, 11, and Juan Umpierrez, 12, were playing in Forest Park at about 4 p.m., officials said.

Anthony “was on land. He only went out to the ice after the other kid fell through,” a law-enforcement source told The Post.

“He [Anthony] was able to push him [Juan] out to safety, but he fell through ice and he couldn’t get out.”

Rescuers waded through the frigid, chest-high water — whack- ing a thin layer of ice with their hands — and plucked Anthony (inset) from the pond, FDNY Deputy Chief George Healy said.

But when they got him to dry land, he wasn’t breathing, so paramedics performed CPR and rushed him to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

“He did help get [Juan] out, but he couldn’t save himself,” the lawenforcement source said.

Anthony’s neighbors in Middle Village were shocked and saddened — but not surprised that he was so quick to act.

“I’m going to call him a hero: He’s a hero,” said Carmen Rivera, 51, who lives downstairs from the Perez family.

Another neighbor, Leonardo Coraci, 41, said Anthony was wellliked.

“He’s a good kid, he’s a really great kid . . . It’s a shame something bad had to happen,” said Coraci, who said the body of water “used to be a baseball field before it was a pond, and they actually had to change it into a stinking pond. They should have kept it as a baseball field. It stinks.”

The FDNY urged parents to warn kids about the dangers of playing on frozen bodies of water.

“We implore you: Tell your children, the ice is not safe,” Healy said. “It’s not gonna support your weight. And there can be tragic consequences.”

Some of the rescuers fell through the ice themselves while trying to save the boy, he added.

Two firefighters were treated for hypothermia.

“The ice failed underneath them,” Healy said. “They were in chest-deep water. They had to physically break [the ice] with their hands.”

Days when temperatures go just above freezing — as on Tuesday, when it hit 35 degrees — are the most dangerous, Healy said.