Sound Coming From Sewer Was Cause for Celebration

Hearing a noise come from a manhole cover sounds like an ominous happening, but in the German town of Oldenburg, it was a joyous occurrence. The sound—which euronews describes as "whimpering"—turned out to be made by an 8-year-old boy who had vanished on June 17. A police rep says the passerby who heard it "reacted immediately, alerted the police, fire department and rescue service, the emergency services went there, lifted the manhole cover, and right underneath it, at a depth of [6 feet], lay the child," reports ITV. Police say it's believed the boy crawled into the sewer the day he went missing and "lost his bearings."

The BBC reports the child, identified as Joe, was found on Saturday, having spent 8 days underground. Firefighters removed him from a sewer location about 0.2 miles from his home. The child was naked, and his clothes were later reportedly located elsewhere in the sewer. Foul play has been ruled out. Joe was hospitalized with hypothermia but is said to be doing well. Police are now working to determine how he got into the sewer system, as the manhole covers would be too heavy for him to lift. A police rep says it's possible he entered via tunnels elsewhere in the system, which is currently being probed with cameras. (More uplifting news stories.)