A young child in Lakewood, NJ was rescued alive yesterday after being completely buried under heavy snow when a bulldozer clearing the streets inadvertently pushed large piles of snow on top of a snow igloo in which he was playing.

The frightening incident unfolded during snow removal operations following one of the region’s most intense winter storms. The child had been inside a snow structure he had built when a large bulldozer operator, unable to see the igloo, pushed a massive accumulation of snow directly over it. Within moments, the child was entirely covered.

Family members soon realized the boy was missing, triggering an immediate and frantic search. Relatives and neighbors began combing the area, fearing the worst as precious minutes ticked by.

For two hours and forty-five agonizing minutes, the search continued as rescuers worked desperately to locate him beneath the deep snow. The urgency intensified as the realization set in that he may have been trapped without air under the heavy accumulation.

Finally, after nearly three hours, the child was located and pulled from beneath the snow. In what family members described as nothing short of a neis, he was found alive and rescued.

“It’s a neis,” a Chaveirim members told Matzav.com. “Nothing short of it.”

Emergency responders evaluated the child at the scene.

The incident left the family and local residents shaken but deeply grateful, as they reflected on what could have ended in tragedy.

{Matzav.com}