May 16 (UPI) -- Rescuers say a 22-month-old boy who disappeared for three days has turned up safe in the Kentucky wilderness.
Officials said the boy, Kenneth Howard, was found in "remarkably good condition" and was treated for dehydration. The toddler was found about 1,700 feet away from his home in rough terrain. Using an expert tracker, searchers heard him crying at the top of a 50-foot incline.
"We all got quiet and starting calling the child's name, and at different times, sporadically, he would give us a cry and we had to try to pinpoint his location," Prestonburg Fire Department Chief Michael Brown told Good Morning America. "We got three or four cries from him, and two of the guys made their way back up the hill and he was sitting at up at top of a little flat there."
"A couple of us felt he was in better condition than we were after we made it up the hill," Brown added.
Rescuers used dogs, drones and helicopters in the search and were about to give up after multiple 40-degree nights. The boy disappeared from his eastern Kentucky home Sunday night after his father left him unattended for a few minutes.
"This is the best news ever!!!" the Magoffin County Sheriff Department tweeted.
State Trooper William Petry said authorities are investigating, but don't suspect criminal activity.
