A Grade 2 student was found alive after he went missing for two days while camping with his family in a remote Michigan state park, local police announced Monday.
Nante Niemi, 8, disappeared while gathering firewood for his parent’s campsite in Porcupine Mountain Wilderness State Park on Saturday around 1 p.m. local time, Michigan State Police said in a statement.
He was discovered by search and rescue crews two days later around 1:30 p.m., more than three kilometres from the campsite.
Though Niemi had “braved the elements,” he was in good health. The clever boy survived by “taking shelter under a log where he was ultimately found,” police wrote.
On Twitter, the Michigan State Police provided more context for the rescue and wrote that Niemi told authorities that “he covered up with branches and leaves for warmth and also blanketed the log he was under.” Though he had no food, he survived by eating clean snow.
On Sunday, Niemi reportedly walked along the park’s trail but figured it best not to stray too far.
When he was discovered the next day, search and rescue crews offered to carry the eight-year-old, but he insisted he walk on his own.
Niemi has since been reunited with his family.
“I mean, he was just normal,” rescue crewmember Eli Talsma told ABC News. “Nante was just walking around. He was talking. He was asking questions. He said he wasn’t hungry.”
She said the crew gave Niemi a Cliff Bar, a banana and some water anyway.
More than 150 people joined the search for Niemi by land, air and water. Volunteers pushed through about 103 square-kilometres of hilly terrain.
Even Neimi’s elementary school in Wisconsin said it had prepared two bus-loads of volunteers to be sent to help the search effort. When he was rescued, the school announced that he had been found to the K-Grade 8 student body, who reportedly celebrated with cheers and applause.
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