More than 100 California firefighters are frantically searching for a 13-year-old boy who plunged 25 feet into a drainage ditch at Los Angeles' Griffith Park while his family participated in an Easter tradition.
Jesse Hernandez was with at least two family members, reportedly his cousins, around 4:30 p.m. Sunday when he fell into the ditch that feeds into the Los Angeles River, FOX11 LA reported. The boys were playing in a maintenance shed when the wooden plank beneath Hernandez broke, causing him to fall into the 4-foot-wide pipe.
"One was jumping on top of a wooden plank, perhaps not knowing that it led into a drainage pipe," Los Angeles Police Sgt. Bruno La Hoz told KTLA."The plank gave, the wood broke, and the kid fell right through it."
The Hernandez family spends a day at Griffith Park as an Easter tradition, according to the Los Angeles Times. Authorities launched an immediate search for the boy — but had not found him as of Monday morning. Hernandez is believed to have been in the ditch for more than five hours.
Hoz described the sewage pipe system as a disorienting labyrinth.
"That place is a maze," Hoz said. "We don't know where the drain pipe goes to."
Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman David Ortiz said rescuers couldn't enter the drainage area themselves because of the hazardous environment. The department has requested "closed circuit" cameras to improve the search.
"These cameras have more advanced capabilities including lighting and the ability to attach to a pontoon which will crawl along the pipe," the statement said.
Dominique Barraza, 16, a family friend, said she and other family members have been attempting to call the 13-year-old.
"We called, sent text messages — it rings but it goes to voicemail," Barraza said. "He's too young. It's just crazy. I still can't believe it."
Fox News' Edmund DeMarche and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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