US boy trapped hours under sand dune is critical

In this June 12, 2013, photo, Michigan City firefighters, police, and first responders dig through a sand dune at Mount Baldy near Michigan City, Ind., while searching for a missing 6-year-old-boy who fell into a hole. Lakeshore. AP Photo/The News Dispatch, Julie McClure

MICHIGAN CITY, Indiana – A six-year-old U.S. boy who spent more than three hours buried under 11 feet (3.3 meters) of sand after being swallowed by a massive dune was recovering well but remained in critical condition.

Michigan City Police Chief Mark Swistek said the boy’s parents told him Saturday that the outlook for the child is very good.

“They are very upbeat and hopeful,” Swistek told The News-Dispatch.

The boy’s family reported he was playing on the dune Friday when he dropped partially into it, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Ranger Bruce Rowe said. While they were trying to dig him out, the dune collapsed.

Michigan City Fire Chief Ronnie Martin told WSBT-TV that firefighters located the boy in an air pocket that enabled him to survive for so long underground.

Michigan City Fire Department spokesman Mark Baker told the newspaper he learned the child didn’t have life-threatening injuries or a brain injury from any lack of oxygen he might have experienced.