Authorities say a Pennsylvania teenager was rescued by emergency workers after getting stuck up to his waist in mud at a state park over the weekend.
Officials said the youth got stuck, then sank deeper as he struggled, in Nescopeck State Park in Luzerne County on Sunday afternoon while walking on land that was once a lake but has since drained.
Dennison Township Fire Chief Jay Marotta said firefighters and ambulance personnel used a ladder and boards on the surface to stabilize themselves, then pulled the teenager out by hand.
Marotta said he couldn't recall in a quarter-century of fire service having ever responded to a mud rescue.
He said he was told that the teen was stuck for about 40 minutes but wasn't injured.
On March 23, three police officers in New Jersey rescued a 9-year-old boy who was stuck in the muddy area of a creek in East Greenwhich.
"He was screaming, but we couldn't see him," Patrolman Phil Owens told us the day after the rescue.
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In that case, the boy had, who is autistic, had wandered from his home and into the Mantua Creek. By the time police got to him, he was neck-deep in mud.
"It was very hard to get through," Patrolman Adam Ziegler said. "We could only see the top of his head."
The three officers eventually freed the 9-year-old. He was treated at a local hospital.
