Boy Scout Found, Alive.
McGRADY, North Carolina (CNN) -- Authorities have received a radio report from searchers that a 12-year-old Boy Scout who went missing over the weekend during a camping trip was found Tuesday, a park service ranger said.
"We did have radio traffic come from one of our searchers on the scene saying that young Michael has been found. He is alive," ranger Tina White said. "We're all smiling now."
Footage from the search scene shows a rescuer holding up a walkie-talkie as one of the searchers who discovered the boy declares, "They have found Michael. He is OK."
An official with the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park Service said Michael Auberry was found about 1½ miles from the campsite from which he disappeared.
White said Michael was weak but in good condition when searchers found him. Authorities were planning to bring him out of the woods in a vehicle rather than allowing him to walk out, she said.
If he doesn't need medical attention, he will be taken to a location where he will be debriefed and reunited with his family, White said.
Michael Auberry's father had expressed confidence earlier Tuesday that his son was surviving in the North Carolina wilderness.
Searchers had been combing the forest for Michael, who went missing from his Scout troop's campsite on Saturday at Doughton Park, along the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Virginia state line.
Before reports surfaced that Michael had been found, Kent Auberry said he was concerned, but not overly worried that his son, who's been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, does not have his medication with him. (Watch boy's father talk about how he takes comfort in a book that his son read )
"Michael has gone camping without his medication" in the past, Auberry said. "It's something he takes to help him primarily during school hours."
He said, "It's as worrisome to us as if he left his coat," but "we'd like him to have medication to help him focus."
Auberry told reporters confidently, "I think he's hunkered down somewhere. I hope he's found a warm place." (Map)
'There's no one to blame'
Auberry, a Greensboro, North Carolina, attorney, said if he had it to do all over again, he would allow Michael to take part in the camp out.
"I trusted the Boy Scouts to take him on this trip," Auberry said. "When we find him, I will trust the same group to take him on a trip again."
He said he knows the members of the Scout troop well.
"Someone asked me yesterday if there's anyone to blame, and there's no one to blame," Auberry said. "This happened in the blink of an eye, and I hope that soon we'll know the story."
For the first time, searchers Tuesday branched out beyond the park to 35 zones in the North Carolina game lands, managed by the state Wildlife Resources Commission, said White.
"We feel that these 35 segments give us the highest probability of success in finding Michael," White told reporters. The zones were chosen by search leaders, and she said she didn't know their acreage.
She said about 25 search-and-rescue groups and several dog teams were looking for the boy Tuesday. White said aircraft would not be used Tuesday because those in charge felt a ground search would be more effective.
Near-freezing temperatures
Weather remained a concern for searchers because temperatures have hovered near and below freezing at night. White said Michael was wearing a heavy coat and boots and had received Scout training to cover himself with leaves to keep warm.
On Sunday, the day after he disappeared, searchers found snack wrappers and a mess kit used by Michael about a half mile from the camp where he was last seen, park service officials said. They also found footprints with impressions similar to the boots Michael was wearing, but White said those had not been confirmed as the boy's footprints.
Michael, who is from Greensboro, North Carolina, had remained with an adult at the campsite Saturday while other Scouts went for a hike, said Dave Bauer of the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park Service. When the other Scouts returned, they ate lunch with Michael, who later disappeared from the camp, Bauer said.
"We are not really sure why or what happened," Saundra Lewis of the Wilkes County Rescue Squad told CNN. "He was seen at the campsite and then a few minutes later he was missing."
Once Scouts and their leaders noticed that Michael was not in camp, they began a search and, within a half hour, called the park service, Bauer said.
CNN's Bob Franken contributed to this report.
*Reserves the right to change her opinion at any time.
"I am only one, but still, I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do what I can." ---Edward Everett Hale
Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.---Mark Twain
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Back
