A five-year-old boy has been found alive and well after nearly three days alone in a bear-populated Romanian forest, in what authorities have described as a miracle, after being spotted by a helicopter rescue team
A five-year-old boy who went missing in a bear-infested forest has been discovered alive and in good health after spending nearly three days alone in treacherous wilderness.
Toma-Alexandru Zerestea, commonly known as Alex, went missing on Monday last week. He disappeared in the Ruscă region on the edges of Sebeșu de Jos, Romania, while his father was fixing an electric fence.
In a brief moment of distraction, the youngster wandered into the woodland and couldn’t be located. Hundreds of rescue workers – including police officers, gendarmes, firefighters, mountain rescue teams, volunteers, soldiers, deploying search dogs, drones and thermal imaging equipment – launched a major operation across challenging mountainous landscape.
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The region is notorious for large predators, with recent torrential rain and freezing overnight conditions increasing the dangers. At about 1pm on Wednesday, the boy was found by a Black Hawk helicopter operated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ General Inspectorate of Aviation. He was found roughly 1.5 miles from where he vanished.
Mihail Soare, a search-and-rescue operative, was lowered down on a trolley to reach the youngster, who was alert and taking shelter amongst trees. Soare remained with little Alex, keeping him warm until ground crews arrived.
The rescuer subsequently said: “It is a very emotional moment, I did not think I would ever live something like this. I have two children of my own, the emotion was overwhelming.”
Alex was taken to Sibiu Clinical Paediatric Hospital, where doctors assessed him as stable and in good general health, despite suffering from exhaustion and exposure, with no serious injuries recorded. His father described himself as “shaking with happiness” when the family was finally reunited.
Romanian authorities called the outcome a miracle, given the very real dangers posed by the Carpathian forest environment. Police have launched a routine investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, though early signs suggest the boy had simply wandered away.
