Missing 7-year-old boy found safe after frantic search in Brooklyn
CANARSIE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- A 7-year-old boy who went missing in Brooklyn has been found safe after a frantic search that lasted several hours.
In the sweltering, humid summer heat drenched in desperation, a massive search began for a 7-year-old boy.
Hundreds of people poured in from across the Tri-State armed with flashlights and flood lights and strapped with radios to aid in the search efforts.
Authorities had said the child, named Yosef, was last seen around 2:30 p.m. in Canarsie Park at Seaview Avenue and Paerdegat Avenue North.
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"The problem is this park is so huge. It felt like a mile. It took me 10 minutes, we had a car obviously going slow. We're checking everything. Porta potties, bathrooms, we're checking every nook and cranny," photojournalist Simon Gifter said.
Canarsie Park is a giant park with bodies of water around it. The 7-year-old was here at day camp, but never made it back on the bus.
"Everybody's dumbfounded," Rabbi and NYPD liaison Jack Meyer said. "We spoke to the other kids that were with him. Nobody knows. The kid didn't say anything that he wanted to run away or anything like that."
Then about seven hours later, hope evaporated again as lighting and heavy rain washed over the search.
But just as optimism had faded even further into the darkness, the boy was found on the beach by the edge of the park, near the Belt Parkway.
Yosef was found semi-conscious, wrapped in mud and asking for his dad.
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All that grim fear burst into joyful relief.
That massive search paid off Wednesday night. Alone and wet, the 7-year-old was wrapped in his parents embrace.
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