US boy trapped under dune still critical

A six-year-old US boy who spent more than three hours buried under 3.3 metres of sand after being swallowed by a massive dune is recovering well, but remains in critical condition.

He was identified on Sunday as Nathan Woessner, from Sterling, Illinois, by Michigan City’s The News Dispatch.

Michigan City police chief Mark Swistek said the boy’s parents told him the outlook for the child is very good.

“They are very upbeat and hopeful,” Swistek told The News-Dispatch.

The boy’s family reported he was playing on the dune on Friday when he dropped partially into it, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Ranger Bruce Rowe said. While they were trying to dig him out, the dune collapsed.

Michigan City Fire Chief Ronnie Martin told WSBT-TV that firefighters located the boy in an air pocket that enabled him to survive for so long underground.

Michigan City Fire Department spokesman Mark Baker told the Michigan City newspaper he learned the child didn’t have life-threatening injuries or a brain injury from any lack of oxygen he might have experienced.