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Emotional video shows helicopter search reuniting family with lost four-year-old child

‘Yep, right there, walk straight that way right there he’s about 20 yards in front of you,’ pilot tells ground search team

Gustaf Kilander
Washington, DC
Tuesday 25 July 2023 13:59 EDT
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Moment police helicopter locates missing four-year-old wandering through fields

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Ohio State Highway Patrol has shared a video showing police helping a family find their four-year-old child during a helicopter search.

The child was lost in a field in Xenia Township on 20 July. The Aviation Unit of the highway patrol was called in by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office to help with the search.

“I believe I have located him,” the chopper pilot said. “He’s in the corner of the bean field walking around.”

The child was spotted walking among the crops.

“Yep, right there, walk straight that way right there he’s about 20 yards in front of you,” the pilot told the ground search team.

A woman picked up the child and a man turned to the helicopter to give the thumbs-up, confirming that the child had been found.

“The family has got him, they are giving us a thumbs up,” the pilot said, according to Fox News.

Family member gives helicopter thumbs up after finding four-year-old in Ohio
Family member gives helicopter thumbs up after finding four-year-old in Ohio (Ohio State Highway Patrol)

A voice on the police radio could be heard saying, “Thanks for your help”.

“Absolutely, give us a call anytime,” the pilot responded.

The family was “very grateful,” Ohio State Highway Patrol said.

What prompted the child to vanish wasn’t immediately clear.

Four teenagers were found safe in the state earlier this year after they disappeared near the Tuscarawas River in Dover, Ohio on Memorial Day. They were found in the early morning by the patrol’s Aviation Unit as they shivered, still in their swimming gear following a request for help by the Tuscarawas County Sheriff’s office.

The highway patrol shared footage of the nighttime search, showing the moment when the teenagers were located next to the river. No one was injured in the ordeal during which they had been missing for more than six hours, according to Fox.

Ohio Police also shared footage in January of officers pulling over a vehicle and finding a four-year-old girl from Michigan who had reportedly been taken by her father who didn’t have custody.

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