Volunteer recounts finding 8-year-old boy missing in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
ONTONAGON COUNTY, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - The Michigan State Police say an 8-year-old Wisconsin boy who was last seen May 6 while camping with his family in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park has been found safe and has been reunited with his family.
Troopers say a volunteer searching for the boy found him under or near a log, about two miles from his campsite.
"Soon as we found him he was in shock a little bit and just wanted to get out there," said Eli Talsma, who helped rescue him.
Talsma and a group of volunteers found Nante Niemi around 2:30 p.m. Monday after tracking his bootprints in the forest.
He said the 8-year-old boy told him he got lost in the woods after trying to get back to his family at the campsite.
"It became dark so he built himself a shelter and slept there that next morning he was woken up by a helicopter and he was trying to chase that down, then he lost his shelter that he built so he had to build another one where he spent Sunday night," Talsma said.
Talsma recalled how Nante stayed safe by using branches and leaves for shelter. He also said Nante ate snow to stay hydrated.
Talsma says the rescue mission was personal for him because he knows Nante and his family. He says it was a special moment when they were reunited.
"He saw me and he recognized me, he run up and gave me a fist bump. And we gave each other a big hug. It was pretty emotional," Talsma says.
MSP says the boy appears to be in good health and should be fine moving forward.