Boy, 4, survives 22 hours in California wilderness after straying from campsite

A four-year-old boy survived nearly an entire day alone in the wilderness after he wandered away from his family while they were at a campsite in central California.

Christian Ramirez of Torrance, California, was camping with his family at the Rancheria campground in Lakeshore, about 70 miles outside of Fresno, when his ordeal began, KTLA reported.

Christian became separated from his family on Thursday at about 10am local time. His relatives searched him for an hour but were unable to find him, so they called rescue crews, who then launched a frantic search for the boy.

With much of the US in the grips of extreme heat recently, Thursday’s high in Lakeshore was 79F (26.1C) – and the low was 40F (4.4C).

A crew of more than 50 volunteers and officers searched for Christian for hours, using dogs, an aerial search, and other methods, the California news outlet ABC7 Eyewitness News reported.

Christian was then in a wooded area about a quarter-mile from the campsite when, fortunately for him, his family and the search crews, members of the Tulare county search and rescue team found him at about 8am on Friday.

Authorities say Christian was hungry and tired when rescuers found him after he had been missing for roughly 22 hours. But he was in good health, according to officials.

The four-year-old was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts when he dealt with the overnight low temperatures in the 40s. The forest area is also home to dangerous animals, including bears and snakes.

“There’s a lot of things that could have gone really, really wrong with this one, and we got lucky – the family got lucky,” Brandon Pursell of the Fresno county sheriff’s office said to ABC7. “The boy is very, very fortunate to be with his family.”

Upon finding Christian, rescuers gave the boy a sandwich and quickly reunited him with his parents.

Christian’s successful rescue came only a day after a man was rescued after being lost in the California mountains for more than a week.

Lukas McClish, 34, of Boulder Creek, California, sustained himself on creek water and wild berries after he became lost on a hike on 11 June.

McClish – who had planned to hike for only a few hours when he became lost – was not found until 20 June after people heard his screams for help.

“I felt comfortable the whole time I was out there – I wasn’t worried,” McClish told KSBW in an interview published on Sunday. “I think it was just somebody watching over me.”