Child rescued from storm sewer on West Broadway in Columbia

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 12-year-old boy was found in a storm sewer on Thursday evening along West Broadway in Columbia near the library.

First responders initially shut down the road near Parkway Drive and McBaine Avenue around 5 p.m. to look for a 12-year-old boy. A Columbia Fire Department spokeswoman wrote that firefighters were called for a “search and rescue involving a child who may have run off into a storm water system.”

First responders were able to get rope down in the sewer and and pulled the child out after several hours. CFD Assistant Chief Lester Shewmake described the process of getting the boy out.

“We were able to get some rope down there. We got a camera and some wheels that we were able to take. He (the child) was able to grab the rope and our crews were able to get him out,” Shewmake said. “He’s safe, warm, in an ambulance and I think he’s going to go get checked out.”

Shewmake described some of the initial calls indicated that someone saw the child go into the pipe.

"The reports earlier today is that he might have gotten in there when he first ran off. But we couldn’t confirm there. We did look in there and obviously some of the areas are pretty small, so trying to get in that area … (which) is why we needed assistance of our utility departments from the city to help us out," he said.

Shewmake said firefighters got assistance from the city's utilities department, which included the use of maps and cameras.

Firefighters, police and EMS were seen gathered around access points of the sewer around 8:15 p.m. First responders closed off the street again around that time as they worked.