An 11-month-old baby has miraculously survived after spending about 24 hours buried alive in South Carolina, where his desperate cries led rescuers to the shallow grave he was buried, just in time to save his life.
The desperate search for Koah Sharpe started on Nov. 9, after the infant disappeared from his mother’s home in Lexington County while in the care of his father, 25-year-old Michael Comer.
According to ABC News, Koah’s mother had left him with Comer while she ran an errand, expecting another caregiver to arrive shortly afterward.
But “by the time the caregiver got there, Michael was gone and Koah was gone with him,” Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said during a press conference.
Investigators searched the home of Comer’s father, where they discovered some of Koah’s belongings but no sign of the missing infant.
“As the day went on and nobody came forward, it was certainly more and more concerning,” Koon said.
‘Koah wasn’t with him’
According to People, authorities learned that Comer, who did “not have access to a vehicle,” had been getting rides around the area, but surveillance footage showed him traveling without his son.
Later that day, deputies found the father in the “outbuilding at a house” and arrested him on a burglary charge, “but Koah was not with him,” police said.
“Of course, he didn’t have much to say about the whereabouts of the baby at that time,” Koon said.
Cries from beneath the dirt
With the father in custody, nearly 100 emergency responders continued searching for Koah, using drones and combing through wooded areas.
Then, around 1:30 p.m. on Nov 10, investigators searching approximately 50 yards into the woods near Comer’s father’s property noticed a patch of “freshly disturbed dirt.”
“As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying – crying the most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby,” Koon recalled. “As you imagine, the race was on, everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out.”
‘Clinging to life’
Buried beneath the dirt was a small wire dog crate containing the missing baby, wrapped in a towel and still alive.
Koon described Koah as “clinging to life,” his cries becoming a sound of extraordinary relief for the rescuers.
The sheriff said the crate “was buried and wrapped with a towel,” which “probably created an air pocket” that allowed him to breathe during the estimated 24 hours he spent about 1 foot underground.
“Certainly, God is good,” Koon said.
‘A great, inspiring story to tell’
Koah was rushed to a hospital, where doctors are caring for him and officials hope he will make a full recovery.
“Hopefully at 11 months old, he will not remember much of this as he grows older, just to have a great, inspiring story to tell,” the sheriff said.
Investigators have not established a motive, and Comer remains in custody while prosecutors consider additional charges connected to his son’s ordeal.
“We want to thank everybody and just celebrate the fact today that an 11-month-old baby is alive,” Koon said.
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