An 8-year-old boy survived for two days in a Michigan state park after going missing while collecting firewood on a family camping trip on Saturday.
Nante Niemi, 8, was discovered by search party volunteers at 1:30 p.m. local time on Monday and has since been reunited with his family, according to Michigan State Police.
According to a press release from the Michigan State Police, Niemi got lost while gathering firewood near his family’s campsite in Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Niemi was last seen around 1 p.m. on Saturday and was rescued roughly two miles from his campsite 48 hours later on Monday.
“He had braved the elements by taking shelter under a log, where he was eventually found,” according to the press release.
According to Eli Talsma, an 18-year-old who assisted in the rescue, Niemi survived for two days without eating or drinking anything.
Niemi, according to Talsma, gathered branches and leaves to cover himself at night. Niemi attempted to signal to a helicopter buzzing overhead at one point, but the pilot did not appear to see him, according to Talsma.
Niemi, according to Talsma, avoided drinking the water in the forest for fear of becoming ill. According to Talsma, he “ate” a few handfuls of snow as his only source of nutrition for the two days.
“If you didn’t know he was in the woods for two days, you wouldn’t know,” Talsma said of the moment rescuers discovered Niemi under a log.
“I mean, he was just a regular guy.” Nante was simply strolling around. He was speaking. He was making inquiries. “He claimed he wasn’t hungry,” Talsma explained. “He was perfectly fine, but we did give him a Cliff Bar and a banana, as well as some water.”
A Michigan State Police spokeswoman, Michelle Robinson, said she didn’t know how the boy survived alone, but that Niemi was “in good health and reunited with his family.”
Over 150 search and rescue personnel participated in the search for Niemi, which covered 40 square miles of a remote and hilly portion of Michigan’s upper peninsula. Volunteers from Michigan and Wisconsin also aided in the successful search.
The Hurley School District’s elementary school principal, Steve Lombardo, said the announcement about Niemi’s safe rescue elicited cheers throughout the K-12 school building, which had been on edge since the second-grader’s disappearance.
“We announced it to the entire school, and as one of my colleagues said, it was like being at a big football game with our winning touchdown being scored,” Lombardo told ABC News. “The entire school erupted in applause, and everyone was relieved and grateful.”