CEDAR CITY — Searchers in Cedar City successfully located a 2-year-old boy who went missing for almost three hours Friday night.
Cedar City Police Sgt. Tim Bonzo said that shortly after 8 p.m., K-9 search teams found the boy near a gravel pit approximately one-half to three-quarters of a mile from where he was last seen, in an industrial area along Bulldog Road.
“They heard him crying and went over and found him,” Bonzo told Cedar City News. “He seemed in good spirits.”
Bonzo said the boy, who was not publicly identified, was then transported along with his parents in an ambulance to Cedar City Hospital for evaluation.
“They’re warming them up and just watching his vitals right now, but he seems to be healthy,” Bonzo added.
Bonzo said it appears the boy, who had gone missing sometime around 5:30 p.m., had wandered off from the back of a nearby residence.
“He just got lost and scared,” Bonzo said. “And in those pits, around those piles of gravel, the sound doesn’t carry very far.”
The successful outcome not only brought relief to the child’s family, but also to the dozens of people involved in the search effort, Bonzo said.
“I think everyone just wants to go home and hug their kids right now,” he said.
Starting around 7:30 p.m., reverse 911 texts, emails and automated phone calls had gone out to area residents saying that the boy had last been seen in the area of 1640 N. Bulldog Road at approximately 5:30 p.m.
The boy was described as being white and blond with blue eyes and wearing a red shirt and blue jeans.
The alert message also advised members of the public to stay clear of the area in order to allow law enforcement and search and rescue personnel to conduct a thorough search operation.
Those involved in the effort included Cedar City Police officers, Iron County Sheriff’s deputies and Search and Rescue team members, Gold Cross Ambulance personnel and Cedar Communications dispatchers.
“It was definitely a team effort,” Bonzo said. “We even had choppers trying to get down here as fast as they could.”
Starting about 8:15 p.m., follow-up notifications were sent out to area residents via the same emergency alert system informing them that the boy had been found safe.
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