National

8-year-old boy found safe after going missing at Arizona’s Lava River Cave

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on August 23, 2024

(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.) — An 8-year-old boy who went missing at Arizona’s Lava River Cave on Wednesday night has been found alive and is being evaluated.

Tzion Maron was reported missing at around 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday after he became separated from his family at the cave, located near Flagstaff, according to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.

Before he went missing, the boy was last seen near the cave entrance, according to officials.

His family reported the boy missing after they were unable to find him in the immediate area, the sheriff’s office said.

Patrol deputies and multiple search and rescue teams spent the night and morning scouring the area, before the child was found Thursday afternoon. Officials said it was raining overnight in the area.

The boy was described as just over 4 feet tall and about 50 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt with blue stripes, navy blue pants and sneakers.

The Lava River Cave is a mile-long lava tube cave formed around 700,000 years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.

The cave can be as cool as 42 degrees, even in the summer, and there may be some ice inside, the Forest Service said. Rocks in the cave can also be “sharp and slippery” and visitors are told to bring two or three sources of light as it can be “very dark one mile from the nearest light source,” according to the USDA.