An 8-year-old Wisconsin boy who went missing for two days while camping in the remote woodlands of Michigan with his family was found on Monday afternoon.
He had joined the annual family camping trip for the first time, his mother, Jessica Buerger, told local media.
Nante Niemi was found under a log by search party volunteers approximately two miles from his campsite, the state police said in a news release.
Mass rescue teams from Michigan and Wisconsin scoured Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, a 60,000-acre forested park known as the ‘Porkies,’ searching for Nante Niemi.
He got lost while walking to gather firewood, leading to a 150-person search effort to rescue him.
Soon after the boy’s mother raised an alarm on social media on Saturday, thanking people for their support but implored everyone to ‘please stay away as it will make it harder to find him’.
The police said the terrain is ‘very remote and hilly with a lot of standing water due to the time of the year’ which made the roads impassable due to the amount of snow.
The police team focused on a roughly 40 sq mile (100 sq km) area in the park, eventually finding the boy.
On Monday, May 8 he was found underneath his log ‘in good health’, about two miles from his camp, Michigan State Police said in a statement.
‘He had braved the elements by taking shelter under a log where he was ultimately found,’ the Police said.
The boy told police he ‘ate clean snow for hydration’.
He has been reunited with his family, police said.
