Toddler Rescued From Deep Shaft as Workers Cheer

DENVER — A toddler trapped for 14 hours in a shaft dug for a construction project busied himself making mud balls and listening to his mother sing nursery songs before rescuers reached him at dawn Sunday.

“It was really difficult. I could hear him crying, but I couldn’t touch him and I couldn’t help him,” Lisa Davis, mother of 20-month-old Kevin, told reporters as she fought back tears.

The rescue workers cheered when the boy was brought to the surface shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday.

“When he clenched my fingers, I felt a tingle in my heart,” said firefighter Joe Cipri, who pulled him out. “It’s still there.”

Kevin was taken to Denver General Hospital, where he was treated for mild hypothermia, dehydration and scrapes on his elbows. About eight hours later, he went home.