Firefighters rescue boy who got stuck in quicksand
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TISHOMINGO, Oklahoma (KOCO) — Tishomingo firefighters recently rescued a 12-year-old boy who got stuck in quicksand while fishing with his father at the Washita River.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters from the Tishomingo Fire Department and Johnston County EMS responded to the Washita River near the north end of South McAdams Road. When they arrived, they found a 12-year-old boy whose right leg was buried to his knee in quicksand.
According to fire department officials, the boy became bored while fishing, started playing on the edge of the river and got stuck in quicksand. The father had freed the boy’s left leg from the quicksand, and the 12-year-old was starting to suffer the effects of hypothermia along with loss of feeling in his right leg.
It took firefighters almost an hour to free the boy from the quicksand. Officials said the rescue was made more difficult because firefighters also were sinking into the sand.
“We were able to use driftwood and tree limbs to help make a somewhat stable platform to work from,” Tishomingo Fire Department officials said. “Fortunately, the river was not rising at the time, which would have created a life-threatening situation for the child as well as rescuers.”
Johnston County EMS treated the boy on the scene for hypothermia, and he was then taken by a private vehicle to the emergency room for evaluation.
Fire officials said along with hypothermia, quicksand can cause “crush syndrome,” in which extended pressure from the sand on muscles, nerves and the circulatory system can cause severe injury.
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