Los Angeles teen survives 12 hours in river of sewage

Jesse Hernandez. Photo / LAFD

A 13-year-old boy was miraculously rescued after falling into a river of sewage in Los Angeles, getting swept away and spending more than 12 hours in the toxic environment of the city's mazelike underground pipeline system.

Jesse Hernandez had been playing with other children on wooden planks over an access portal to the sewer system during a family outing yesterday at a Los Angeles park.

When a plank broke, Jesse fell about 8m and landed in fast-moving sewage, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The other children immediately notified adults, who called emergency services, initiating a frantic and exhaustive 12-hour search of labyrinthine underground pipes using cameras propped on flotation devices.

Rescuers finally found Jesse after seeing images of handprints on a sewage pipe.

A sanitation crew rushed to the area and opened a manhole.

"The first thing they heard was 'Help!"' said Adel Hagekhalil, assistant general manager of the sanitation department.

The crew lowered down a hose to Jesse, who was about 3m deep in the pipe.

"He caught onto the hose and was reeled back up," Hagekhalil said.

Rescuers gave him immediate medical attention, including hosing him down to get rid of the sewage and cleaning out his eyes and nose with sterile saline, Humphrey said.

Jesse immediately asked for a cellphone to call his family. A worker handed him a phone, and he called his mum.

"He was happy, the family was happy," said Hagekhalil, adding that rescuers were thrilled at the outcome.

After an accident like Jesse's, rescuers say the likelihood of someone being found safe diminishes by the hour.

"They never gave up hope," he said. "They wanted to bring Jesse back to his family."

Here’s the corner of the sanitation yard where 13-year-old Jesse Hernandez fell into the city’s sewer network on Easter afternoon. He got into a decommissioned sewage building and jumped on a wooden plank that gave way, plunging him into a pipe 25 feet below, officials said. pic.twitter.com/IfFRWH0xSX

— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) April 2, 2018

About 731m of pipe had been inspected when rescuers found Jesse less than 1.5km from where he disappeared.

He was taken to a hospital for a full evaluation and to be reunited with his family.

In addition to the massive rescue effort involving more than 100 people, Humphrey credited Jesse for his survival. Not only did he survive getting swept through sewage moving at 24 km/h, he managed to find a pocket of breathable air and hang on until he was found, authorities said.

"Any subterranean location, particularly one that involves waste, can produce toxic gases — methane, hydrogen sulfide — so breathable air is a key element," Humphrey said.

"The odds of someone falling into such a pipe and surviving are slim. The odds were not in his favour, and many would call it miraculous."

13-yr-old Jesse Hernandez found alive & is talking with his family after surviving 25 ft fall into Griffith Park sewage pipe, swept a mile downstream and stuck for more than 12 hours in dark, toxic conditions. @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/F7DFGwmjfm

— JASMINE VIEL (@jasmineviel) April 2, 2018

He called Jesse "a resolute young man."

"He has tremendous inner strength," Humphrey said. "It's obvious he's not a quitter."

Also yesterday, an 11-year-old boy fell into a canal in Meadow Vista, about 65km northwest of Sacramento. He was found dead a couple of hours later.

Famously in October 1987, rescuers freed an 18-month-old girl who had been trapped in a narrow, abandoned well in Midland, Texas, for more than 58 hours.

Jessica McClure's rescue captured America's attention in some of the first round-the-clock television coverage in the US.

- AP