DES MOINES, Iowa --
A scared 10-year-old boy was pulled out from under a city street.
He was stuck underground for more than an hour as firefighters scrambled to rescue him.
It unfolded shortly after 6:15 p.m. in the 200 block of East McKinley Street. The street is east of the airport and has been under construction since spring.
Eric Hanson watched the whole situation unfold.
Police aren't sure whether or not it was in place, but the manhole in the middle of a construction zone was supposed to be covered by a thin piece of sheet metal. They said all they know is the child ended up trapped under the street.
While supper sat on the kitchen tables up and down McKinley Street, half the neighborhood was spellbound.
The thoroughfare that's been closed for construction since April was suddenly the center of attention.
"Around 6:21 p.m., our dispatch received a call from neighbors saying there were kids playing in this construction site," Capt. Steve Brown said.
There, at the bottom of a man hole stood the scared boy who took a 12-foot fall.
"We had a firefighter talking to him at all times to keep him calm down there," Brown said. "He was talking to us."
While firefighters quickly assembled a tripod and hoist, the boy stuck and scared could only stare straight up, ankle deep in the storm sewer.
"It's a pretty good sized hole down there. There was some water running through there. We're lucky there wasn't that much rain," Brown said.
But while he waited below the ground, the boy's mother couldn't stand it.
"I want to talk to my baby," she said.
Until the hoist started moving, the firefighter that was lowered started rising with the boy who'd been waiting.
The child was rescued with an ankle that was crooked and a heart quickly thumping while his mother was thankful her boy was back above ground.
The child was talking when firefighters rushed him to the hospital. Officials said they think the child suffered some broken bones, but that he'll be OK.
There will be a lot of questions tomorrow about what safety measures were or were not in place.
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