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Two men rescue boy, 2, from septic tank in Kissimmee

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A 2-year-old boy is recovering after his neighbor rescued him from an open septic tank in Kissimmee.

The good Samaritan said when he and another neighbor pulled the toddler from the tank, the boy looked lifeless.

The dramatic rescue happened yesterday at the Bermuda Mobile Home Park on John Young Parkway.

Edwin Rafael said he and his neighbor, Luis Rodriguez, didn’t think twice when they heard the boy's screams for help and saw he had fallen in the septic tank.

“I looked at him and he looked at me, and he jumped in the hole,” Rafael said.

He said the cover of the tank wasn’t properly secured by the company responsible for maintaining the septic system.

“[The cover] was there, but it was just sitting on the side,” Rafael said.

Rafeal said when they pulled the boy out, they saw no signs of life.

“He was purple. There was no life. No life at all,” he said. “[Rodriguez] started giving him mouth-to-mouth and I started pumping his chest, and we got him right back.”

Caution tape now surrounds the septic tank and the openings are covered.

The boy was released from the hospital.

His mother said she was grateful for the two men’s help and said it is thanks to them that he’s alive.