A 4-year-old boy who got lost from a campsite in California’s Sierra National Forest and spent 22 hours alone in the wilderness has been found safe, authorities said.
A search and rescue team of about 50 officers and volunteers set out about 11 a.m. Thursday after a child was reported missing from a campground surrounded by dense woods north of Fresno.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said the boy, from Torrance, near Los Angeles, was last seen wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
The boy was found unharmed around 8 a.m. Friday “lying under a tree” near a lake about a quarter mile from the family’s Rancheria campground.
“He was hungry and tired but otherwise in good health.”
“We bought him a sandwich and took him out to be reunited with his mommy and daddy,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook Saturday.
Authorities say the boy simply wandered off and became disoriented.
The sheriff’s office thanked members of the public who volunteered in the search, “kept an eye out, spread the word on social media and offered prayers.”
“All of this undoubtedly helped bring him home safely,” police said.
