A baby was found buried and ‘clinging to life’ after allegedly being taken by his dad.
An urgent search was launched after Koah Sharpe, aged 11 months, went missing from his home in Lexington County, South Carolina.
The tot was last seen with his dad, Michael Comer, 25, whose own mother was taking care of the baby on Monday.
When Comer was left with the baby before another caregiver arrived, the pair had vanished.
Miraculously, the search and rescue teams looking for the baby spotted ‘freshly disturbed dirt’ near Comer’s father’s house.
When they started digging, Koah’s crying could be heard.
He was found wrapped in a towel and buried in a dog crate, the county sheriff Jay Koon said.
He said: ‘As they probed it and laid it out and started digging, you could hear little Koah crying.
‘As you imagine, the race was on, everybody’s getting down there trying to get him out.’
The towel is believed to have created an air pocket that helped him survive the ordeal.
Little Koah was pulled from the ground yesterday afternoon, and the police believe he spent 24 hours buried in the shallow hole.
The sheriff said the baby was ‘clinging to life,’ and described hearing him cry as the ‘most joyful sound you ever heard of a crying baby.’
Koah was rushed to the hospital, where he is recovering.
Koon continued: ‘Hopefully at 11 months old, he will not remember much of this as he grows older, just to have a great inspiring story to tell.’
Meanwhile, Comer had been located inside an outbuilding on Monday night in the Batesburg-Leesville area, according to ABC News.
He was arrested on suspicion of burglary and resisting arrest charges, but authorities are determining whether additional charges will be brought, the sheriff said.
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