8-Year-Old Missing for 48 Hours in Michigan State Park Found Safe After Sheltering Under Log
Wisconsin second-grader Nante Niemi was determined to be healthy, and reunited with his family Monday afternoon after disappearing on Saturday
An 8-year-old Wisconsin boy who had been missing for two days after he disappeared during his family's camping trip in Michigan was found safe on Monday.
Authorities located second-grader Nante Niemi underneath a log which he had sought for shelter and warmth in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, in the state's remote western Upper Peninsula, Michigan State Police's Eighth District tweeted Monday afternoon.
The boy appeared "to be in good health" and was reunited with his family shortly after he was found, the tweet continued.
In a follow-up post, MSP explained, "Lieutenant Wickstrom says the boy told them he covered up with branches and leaves for warmth and also blanketed the log he was under. He didn't have any food but ate clean snow for hydration."
"He walked a trail yesterday (Sunday) and when he ran out of trail, he figured the best thing to do was to just stop and wait," authorities added. "They offered to carry him out today, but he told the guys who found him that he wanted to walk!"
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Nante was gathering firewood on Saturday afternoon when he got lost in the woods, according to an MSP news release.
He was on his family's boys' trip, his mother Jessica Buerger told WDIO in Duluth, Minnesota, and it was his first time to go.
By Monday morning, more than 150 search and rescue personnel from MSP and local police partners, including nine K9s, were searching a roughly 40-square-mile area on foot, and in the air and by water as the weather conditions allowed, MSP said, per the news release.
Some roads in the area were still impassable due to snow depth, the agency said.
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One rescuer, Eli Talsma, told ABC News that when they found the young boy on Monday afternoon, he seemed "perfectly fine."
"I mean, he was just normal," Talsma said. "Nante was just walking around. He was talking. He was asking questions. He said he wasn't hungry. He was perfectly fine, but we did give him a Clif Bar and a banana and some water."
Nante's loved ones rejoiced in the happy news, including his elementary school in Hurley, Wisconsin.
"We announced it to the entire school, and as my colleague said, it was like being at a big football game with our winning touchdown being scored," Steve Lombardo, the elementary-school principal in Hurley School District, told ABC News. "The entire school lit up in cheers, and everybody was just relieved and thankful."
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