Search for lost boys finds them unharmed
WINDOW ROCK
Navajo Nation police reported Wednesday finding two boys, ages three and four, who had been lost in the woods overnight.
Aztlan, 4, and Anthony Champayne, 3, had been hauling wood with their grandfather, grandmother and their aunt Tuesday in the Beshito area north of Toyei when they wandered off at about 2 p.m.
Family members searched the immediate area for them for several hours before reporting them missing to police, who began immediate search operations about 7 p.m., according to Sgt. Terry John of the Window Rock District.
By 10 p.m., the area was saturated with officers from the Navajo police, the Apache County Sheriff’s Office, the Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Services, the Hopi Emergency Response Team, the Arizona Department of Public Service, the Ganado Fire Department and tribal rangers.
There was even a helicopter provided by Guardian Air.
The search continued throughout the night as the temperatures went down to the low 30s.
John said the two were finally found about a mile from where they were hauling wood on late Wednesday morning.
“It was their aunt who found them,” John said, adding that she went out searching in the morning, calling out their names. When they heard her calling, they came to her.
The boys said they slept under a tree during the night and although they were cold, they managed to get some sleep.
The two were hydrated and hungry but otherwise in good shape, John said.
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