A group of children who ventured into a Staten Island storm drain on Tuesday night were rescued by FDNY firefighters after becoming lost for more than an hour in the dark, narrow subterranean tunnel.
The boys – believed to be around 12 years old – crawled into a 40-inch opening near the Staten Island Zoo, traveling on their hands and knees for close to 1,500 feet before “becoming disoriented,” according to FDNY Chief of Department John Hodgens.
Listen to live audio of the Staten Island sewer rescue below.
At around 6 p.m., one of the boys dialed 911, telling the dispatcher, “We’re stuck in the sewers,” according to recordings of the call released by officials on Wednesday.
“It’s like a tunnel where all the pipes are,” another boy adds.
Emergency officials were able to track down the spot they entered after finding a pile of jackets and backpacks. But they struggled to locate exactly where in the sewer system the boys had stopped.
“We didn’t know exactly where they were and it took a while to figure out how to find them,” Hodgens recalled.
As two firefighters squeezed into the small tunnel, another group opened a series of manholes on street level.
In the recordings, the dispatcher can be heard instructing the children to scream so that the rescue team can locate them.
“Call for help, guys,” the dispatcher said. “I want you guys to scream as loud as you want.”
The boys then let out a series of piercing screams for help. They were removed from the hole – roughly 40 feet below ground – shortly afterward.
Each of the boys was transported to the hospital for evaluation, but none were believed to be injured.
“All in all a successful operation with a happy outcome,” Hodgens added.
