A nine-year-old boy was miraculously found over the weekend after spending six days lost in a Mexican jungle drenched by Hurricane Milton.
The ordeal began October 5, when little Joel Acosta ran away from his home in the town of Palizada in Campeche after his stepfather told him he was not allowed to have more pet dogs.
Acosta, who is also known as ‘El Choco,’ took off with his dogs and his parents reported him missing when he didn’t return, initially thinking that he had gone to play near a stream just 650 feet from their home.
The boy then got lost in the jungle, which is home crocodiles and snakes, and was unable to find his way back home over the next couple of days before Hurricane Milton pounded the region with heavy rain.
A rescue team comprised of the Local Commission for the Search for Persons of the State of Campeche, police and local residents led the search for Acosta and drones were deployed.
However, the initial efforts were unsuccessful after the dogs’ footprints were wiped out by the storm.
Authorities caught a break when Acosta’s dogs, Bobi, returned to the neighborhood after the Campeche prosecutor’s office issued an Amber Alert.
Authorities intensified the search and located Acosta next to a cabin on Friday morning.
Footage released by authorities showed a barefoot Acosta wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
Rafael Miranda, who oversees the road unit with the Campeche Citizen Protection and Security Department, revealed that Acosta survived by drinking water from puddles and guided himself and the dogs at night by looking at the stars.
‘He left home in the middle of a hurricane, which is amazing; now he will be able to face any challenge,’ Miranda said, as quoted by local news portal Por Esto.
Javier Quintero, director of the Local Commission for the Search for Persons of the State of Campeche, told Univision that Acosta ‘had vital signs’ and was ‘obviously a little dehydrated, disoriented.’
The boy was rushed by the military to a hospital in Zapata, a town in the nearby state of Tabasco, where doctors treated him for malnutrition and dehydration.
Acosta was placed the in custody of the child welfare system as investigators look into whether his mother and stepfather were liable for him running away.