A 6-year-old boy buried for hours under sand at the Indiana Dunes is moving his arms and legs, doctors said.
The medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at the University of Chicago Medicine told reporters Nathan Woessner is under sedation and is breathing with a ventilator until his lungs can fully function. The breathing tube could be removed by the end of the week, Dr. Tracy Koogler said, and he'll likey be released from the hospital in 10-14 days.
"He was breathing at some level on his own when he was found," Koogler said. "I expected him to arrive much sicker than he did."
Woessner spent three-and-a-half hours trapped in the sand Friday night and remains in critical condition at Comer Children's Hospital. Hospital spokesman John Easton said the boy is breathing with a ventilator.
The boy fell inside a sinkhole sometime after 4 p.m. Friday at Mt. Baldy in Michigan City, Ind.
Woessner's grandfather, Pastor Don Reul, said the boy was at the dunes with his parents and another couple. The boy was walking to the top of Mt. Baldy with his dad, an adult friend of the family and another boy when he fell.
"Part of the way up, Nathan stepped into a sink hole and disappeared out of the sight," Reul said. "They immediately went back, and he was nowhere to be seen. The ground had swallowed him up."
Woessner was hollering out, Reul said, and they frantically began to dig to get him out.
Officials say Woessner was found 11 feet down in the sand. Michigan City Fire Chief Ronnie Martin said his crews used heavy machinery to locate the boy.
A park spokesman said the boy's family did not see him fall inside the hole but saw him inside and tried to dig him out.
