An 11-month-old baby who was taken from his father has been rescued in South Carolina, US, after being buried alive in a dog cage following an emergency search. The news is reported by ABC. The child – whose name was named by the US broadcaster – was found “at the end of his life”, after having spent, it is believed, 24 hours buried, according to what was reported by the Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon. He was found wrapped in a towel inside the cage, buried at a shallow depth under the earth in the woods, “while he was crying with the most joyful sound you could ever hear from a crying child”, declared the sheriff, evidently moved.
The child had been entrusted to the care of his father, 25-year-old Michael Comer, at the home of the child’s mother while she ran an errand. Another person in charge of looking after the child was arriving at the house, but when this person arrived on site, father and son were already gone, the sheriff explained.
Lexington County deputies located Comer late Monday in the Batesburg-Leesville area, but the child was nowhere to be found, authorities said.
The discovery of the child buried alive in the woods
A search team of nearly 100 rescuers began looking for the child. Yesterday afternoon, while combing the area near Comer’s father’s house, they found “freshly disturbed” soil in the woods, he said. “As they probed the ground, moved it and started digging, you could hear the little boy crying – said the sheriff – it was a race against time.” The sheriff believes the towel he had been wrapped in contributed to creating an “air pocket.” The child is currently hospitalized and “it is hoped that he will make a full recovery.”