Boy found in Utah forest left clues for rescuers

MANILA, Utah - A lost boy's granola bar wrapper, pieces of his jacket tied to trees and his black backpack helped searchers find him after a night in the forest.

Nine-year-old Grayson Wynne of Heber City was found Sunday (June 28) after getting separated from his family while hiking in Ashley National Forest near the Spirit Lake trailhead on Saturday, the Daggett County sheriff's office said.

Searchers found a granola bar wrapper believed to be Grayson's on Saturday night. On Sunday they found a small footprint by a creek bed and the boy's backpack, which helped them realise he was following the creek.

"I climbed a pine tree to see if I could see anyone, but I didn't," Grayson told the Deseret News in Salt Lake City. "So I just kept following the river."

Grayson knew to tie pieces of his jacket to trees after watching a television show about survival strategies.

"I was really scared," he said. "But 'Man vs. Wild' tells you how to survive all different terrains."

When he finally heard a search helicopter, he went into a meadow and started waving the last piece of his jacket. He was spotted by two searchers on horseback and reunited with his family.

"I was just really happy to see the horses. I missed my parents a lot," Grayson told the newspaper. "I almost broke into tears when I saw them, but I didn't."

Family members had searched for Grayson after realising he was missing then contacted authorities as dusk neared, said Kimberly Wynne, Grayson's mother.

"There were times I was worried Grayson wouldn't make it, and I wouldn't ever see him again, and I'm just humbled that I can," she told the newspaper.

Kynan Wynne, the boy's father, declined immediate comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

The search was a success "due to the many searchers and volunteers, and to Grayson for being such a strong little boy, with a lot of common sense," the Daggett County sheriff's office said in a prepared statement.

The boy's feet were wet and cold, but he was in good spirits after spending the night under a log.

His first words when reunited with his father were Happy Father's Day.

Courtesy: Deseret News

Locusts swoop down on Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA - "Crops in large swathes of Ethiopia risk being destroyed by swarms of locusts coming from northern Somalia, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)" said on Tuesday, June 23.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) "reports that locust swarms have been confirmed in seven regions in the country, including in areas where there is no previous record of infestation," a statement said.

"The Government is expected to present a response plan specifying immediate and medium-term actions to be taken," OCHA said.

It added that 1,390 hectares of land in several regions, mainly in southeastern Ethiopia had been sprayed in ground and air operations.

The vast majority of Ethiopia's 77 million inhabitants depend on subsistence agriculture and have been badly hit by successive infestations of voracious locusts that destroy every plant in their path. (AFP)

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