Nadia Bloom Found Alive (Pictures): Men with Machetes Find Child in Alligator-Infested Swamp After Four Days

WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. (CBS/AP) Nadia Bloom's family is hailing James King as a hero, after he found the 11-year-old girl in a remote part of a Florida swamp near her suburban Orlando home, four days after she disappeared.

PICTURES: Nadia Bloom Missing

King, who's a member of Bloom's church, says he found the child by the shoreline of nearby Lake Jesup. He immediately noticed she was thirsty and covered in mosquito bites.

King said when he found Nadia, he immediately sent his wife a text that read "I found her she's safe in my arms."

Authorities say they had to use machetes to get to the missing child in the isolated woods and thick brush. Once paramedics reached her they placed her on a stretcher and began carrying the young girl out by passing her from person to person.

Nadia Bloom suffers from an autism-related syndrome called Asperger's. Authorities aren't sure how she survived four days in the alligator infested swamp.

Nadia's father said that when he received word that his daughter was safe he was overcome with joy.

"I just burst...and ran to tell my wife," Bloom told reporters at a Tuesday press conference.

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PICTURES: Nadia Bloom Missing

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