Malachi Bradley, a 10-year-old Utah boy who went missing while hunting mushrooms Sunday, was found alive Monday afternoon after spending a chilly night alone in the Ashley National Forest.
The boy was hiking with family members at the Utah forest's Paul Lake when he wandered off around
10:30 a.m. Sunday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. After searching for the boy with no luck, Bradley's father hiked three miles to Paradise Park and drove to a point where he could call 911.
He was finally spotted a little before 3 p.m. Monday by a search and rescue pilot, Uintah County Sheriff Vance Norton told the newspaper. A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter was alerted to his location and landed to pick him up, some five miles away from where he was last seen.
Molly Bradley, the boy's mother, was overcome with emotion after news broke that her son was found.
"I don't think I've ever felt something so
intensely in my whole life," she told KUTV. "I'm proud of my boy, proud of the team, proud of the fact that I'm not going to have a tragedy. I don't have a tragedy, I just have this cool story that my son gets to tell and that feels awesome."
Malachi Bradley was checked out by paramedics for about 15 minutes before being turned over to his family.
Numerous agencies had joined in the search for the boy, including rescue crews from Uintah and Wasatch counties, the Ute Tribe, and a DPS helicopter and Wasatch County search plane, according to The Tribune. Crews looked for the boy until nightfall Sunday.
The search resumed at dawn Monday with added reinforcements from the U.S. Forest Service, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs.
Malachi Bradley reportedly told rescuers that he curled up between rocks to stay warm overnight when temperatures dipped below 40 degrees. Paul Lake is on fairly flat land but close to the top of the nearly 10,000-foot mountain, The Tribune noted.
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