Boy, 12, Survives Being Buried In Snow

BALDWIN TOWNSHIP, Minn. (WCCO) – Brad Morse calls it the scariest thing he's ever seen. He arrived home Tuesday evening to find his 12-year-old son, Steven, buried head-first in heavy snow.

Authorities estimate the boy was buried for an hour outside their home, where the snow is piled high along the driveway from a long winter of shoveling.

Tuesday's warmth made it soft enough for Steven to dig a tunnel, but also too soft to hold it up.

"I was thinking 'Oh my gosh, I don't know what's going to happen,'" Steven said. "I was scared for my life."

The collapse of snow covered everything from his head to his lower legs.

"I went on my back and I saw a slight dim light in which I had hope," said Steven. "I was forcing myself to move and making room that I could breathe."

He was unresponsive but still breathing by the time his dad and brother started digging him out.

"He was still shivering and extremely stiff and unresponsive," his father said, "but we got him in the house."

A medical helicopter landed in their cul de sac to take Steven, as the family piled in the car.

"At the hospital," Brad Morse said, "I dropped my wife off at the entrance and went and parked the car. Putting my hand on that door knob to turn the door to go in, I had no idea what to expect."

Amazingly, Steven showed few side effects from his ordeal.

"I had been praying that I would live," he said. "I am thinking that I got a miracle."

He had no signs of frostbite, and there was just enough of an air pocket, so he didn't have serious oxygen deprivation. But doctors said a few minutes more could've made it a lot worse.