Boy, 13, rescued after being swept into LA sewer system
A YOUNG boy was rescued after falling into a river of sewage in Los Angeles, getting swept away and spending more than 12 hours in the city’s sewers.
Jesse Hernandez, 13, was playing with other children on wooden planks over an access portal to the sewer system during a family outing to a park on Easter Sunday when a plank broke.
The boy fell about 25ft and landed in fast-moving sewage, said the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The other children immediately notified adults, who called 911, initiating a frantic 12-hour search of labyrinthine underground pipes using cameras on flotation devices.
Rescuers finally found Jesse after seeing images of handprints on a sewage pipe. A sanitation crew rushed to the area and opened a manhole.
“The first thing they heard was ‘Help!’” said Adel Hagekhalil, assistant manager of the sanitation department.
The crew lowered down a hose to Jesse, who was about 11ft deep in the pipe.
“He caught on to the hose and was reeled back up,” Mr Hagekhalil said.
Rescuers gave him immediate medical attention, including hosing him down to get rid of the sewage and cleaning out his eyes and nose with sterile saline.
Jesse immediately asked for a phone to call his family. A worker handed him one and he called his mother.
The boy later told KNBC-TV that he was tired and had suffered a few scrapes, but otherwise fine.
“I was praying to God to help me and to not die,” Jesse said. “It was all quiet. You could just hear the water running through and you couldn’t see anything. It was dark.”
After an accident like Jesse’s, rescuers say the likelihood of someone being found safe diminishes by the hour.
Mr Hagekhalil said rescuers were thrilled at the outcome, adding: “They never gave up hope. They wanted to bring Jesse back to his family.”