Five young boys got stuck in a sewer system on Staten Island, New York City, on Tuesday evening, March 21, according to police, who said a search and rescue operation was launched after they called 911.
The five children were discovered after being trapped in Staten Island’s sewer tunnels for about an hour, according to the New York Fire Department. The kids only had one cell phone, which provided light, and the sewer was dark.
According to Fire Chief John Hodgens, the children had been crawling around inside for at least 15 minutes before realizing they were lost and stranded.
The boys’ 911 call, which described how they ended up in the storm drain, was audio recorded and made public by the FDNY.
In the recording, the dispatcher can be heard trying to learn their location. During the call that lasted more than 30 minutes, one of the kids explained that they had become trapped in the sewer after passing through a tunnel.
The dispatcher tried to locate the children and listened in amazement as the children informed him that they were trapped in a sewer.
The boys described entering through a tunnel entrance in the vicinity of a cemetery and the Staten Island Zoo,
A few minutes after the call, sirens could be heard in the distance. The dispatcher instructed the children to scream as loud as they could in order to alert responding officers.
The children screamed for help, and firefighters finally found the entrance of the tunnel they went through, and a rescue worker entered the tunnel to find them.
The worker had to crawl because the area was narrow. Other rescuers entered the sewer through maintenance holes.
Four of the children were discovered together, and the fifth was located some distance away with minor leg injuries.
The children were taken to a hospital and later released, along with an injured firefighter.
