SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — It was an answer to many prayers. After days of being lost in dangerous woods near alligator-infested waters, an 11-year-old Seminole County girl was found alive Tuesday.
Nadia Bloom's family laid eyes on her for the first time in days when she was carried out of the woods and placed into an ambulance (see images | raw video) and taken to South Seminole Hospital. She had been missing for nearly 90 hours.
911 CALL: Searcher Finds Nadia NADIA EMERGES: See Images | Watch Raw Video PARENTS TALK: Nadia's Parents React To Discovery HOSPITAL UPDATE: Doctor Gives Update On Nadia MAN WHO FOUND NADIA: Interview | Pics | Raw Video TUESDAY PRESSER: Sheriff's Office Gives Update TEAM COVERAGE: WFTV Reports On Nadia Found
"She did make two comments to the officers when they got there. ‘Glad you guys found me,' ‘Can't believe you rescued me.' So, they were very, very, very excited about that," Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle said during a press conference early Tuesday afternoon.
Nadia disappeared in the woods behind her home in the Barrington Estates subdivision in Winter Springs and was found Tuesday morning by a volunteer who attends her church, 45-year-old James King.
"The love of everybody, from everybody across the country praying," Nadia's father said shortly after the girl emerged from the woods (watch interview with parents). "It all came so fast and just shows the compassion of the human spirit."
Chief Brunelle said Nadia did sustain a lot of bug bites and was dehydrated. The chief said an IV of fluids was given to her before she was removed from the woods.
Dr. Rakesh Parekh, from South Seminole Hospital, spoke briefly to the media Tuesday afternoon about Nadia's condition (watch full presser).
Nadia In Woods Rescue Photo 041310 Nadia was found dehydrated and covered in bug bites, but otherwise well. "Nadia is doing wonderfully," he said. "Medically speaking, she's done remarkably. She's clearly dehydrated … But generally she's doing remarkably well."
Parekh said he expects Nadia to have a short stay at the hospital with their main goal to hydrate her and tend to her wounds and abrasions.
"Our goal is to stabilize her here," Parekh said.
WFTV learned late Tuesday afternoon that Nadia was "moved" from the hospital, but officials wouldn't clarify if that meant she was moved to another hospital or was discharged.
Around 11:40am, Nadia emerged from the woods, being carried by a team of rescuers, including the man who found her. It took the rescue crew about two hours to remove her from the location where she was found.
"Everyone here at the city felt personally touched by these events," Winter Springs Mayor Mayor John F. Bush said. "Our hearts were with the family during the awful period of uncertainty and we are all relieved that she's back in the embrace of her loved ones."
Chief Brunelle said police received a phone call from King around 8:30am saying he found Nadia just slightly east and north of the 417.
"He was able to tell us that he located her," Brunelle told reporters early Tuesday afternoon "He talked us in there. And what we did from that point was triangulate the cell phone call."
Associated Press Nadia Bloom Rescused AP Photo 041310 Nadia Bloom was loaded into an ambulance after being pulled out of the woods days after she disappeared. Brunelle said Nadia's feet were very water-logged, but that she did make two comments to the rescuers: "Glad you guys found me" and "I can't believe you rescued me."
"Mr. King is a hero right now," Brunelle said.
Brunelle said Nadia told rescuers "she hadn't seen a soul" until she was found Tuesday morning.
"I never believed in miracles, but I sure do now," Brunelle said.
James King, who found Nadia, is a member of Metro Church of Christ and knows her family, though he said he doesn't know them well. That certainly didn't stop him from searching the woods for Nadia with fellow church members on Monday or dissuade him from returning alone Tuesday.
King was hard to miss as he left the scene Tuesday literally covered in mud (see images). He told one of his pastors that he was nearly waist-deep in mud to get to where Nadia was found, walking alone with a water pack on his back.
King had been part of the search for days, but Tuesday, just hours before experts said Nadia should have been dead, he decided to trek into an area where no one had gone before.
"In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path and he directed my path straight to her," King shouted to the crowd, reinforcing the role he says his faith played, after finding Nadia and returning with the rescue crew. "Because I prayed that all the way."
James King 041310 James King (pictured) believes divine intervention helped lead him to where Nadia Bloom was in the woods. The 45-year-old man told WFTV he works for Elbit Systems, an Israeli defense electronics company with U.S. divisions. He said his boss was very understanding of him missing work to go search.
"Before it was daylight, I got ready, I taped my boots. I got hydration for me and for her," King told WFTV Tuesday afternoon (watch full interview). "I went into the woods. It was rough. At one point I got a stick in my eye."
King, a deeply religious man, said his faith in God led him to Nadia.
"The Lord said, ‘Nope, go east. Look at the sunrise, follow the sun.' So I did," he said.
It took him nearly two hours before he found her.
"She was sitting on a log. She seemed very calm," King explained. "She was eaten up with mosquito bites from top to bottom."
King said Nadia remembered him from church.
"Sat with her. Got out the stuff that I had for her. She was a little disappointed that the trail mix didn't have M&Ms," King said.
After emerging from the woods with Nadia and a team of rescuers, King was taken in for questioning.
"They need to make sure that I'm not some kind of guy that dragged her into the woods to be a hero. They were doing their job and they did it well," King said.
Nadia Bloom 14 Nadia Bloom 14 Nadia's family (father and sister pictured) were visibly happy as they anxiously waited for her to emerge from the woods with rescuers. King had no unkind words for the police department. He said they were professional and didn't subject him to any tests. King said Nadia told him she went for a nature walk and got lost, but never lost faith someone would find her.
"I'm glad he was an instrument used by God. He wasn't out there trying to be a hero. He loves the Lord and it's very obvious and he loves children," King's wife Diana said.
Nadia's family was anxiously waiting at an area just on the edge of the woods for the little girl's arrival. The girl's parents and sister were visibly elated (see images).
"You've got to believe God's hand was in it," said Dan Holland, senior pastor at the family's church, Metro Life Church in Casselberry. "She was able to talk."
King was searching the woods for Nadia on his own and found the girl alive Tuesday morning, saying he could only see bug bites when he found her. Holland said King told him he said a prayer and asked God to lead him to Nadia. According to Holland, King was pushing through a swamp-area when he made the discovery.
"He said he went straight out through the swamps and found her," Holland said.
Investigators said Nadia was found in an area they called Zone 13 (see map), which had not been previously searched and is possibly the most dense woods of the search area. It's only about a half-mile from the family's home on Wescott Loop (see map).
Zone 13 would've been searched Tuesday by police. It's covered in brush so thick that investigators didn't think Nadia could get through, so they saved it for last (take airboat ride through area).
Search teams had been looking for Bloom since she was first reported missing last Friday after her bicycle was found parked near a wooded area in her neighborhood. The mildly autistic girl is fascinated by the outdoors and wildlife, so investigators thought she might have tried to explore the dense woods behind her house off SR-434 near Lake Jesup.
Friday, Nadia's bike was found at the end of a cul-de-sac in her Barrington Estates subdivision ( see map ), near only one home, standing deliberately with the kickstand down and her helmet hanging on the handlebars.
WFTV learned about Nadia's fascination with a popular "American Girls" doll. The fictional character, Lanie (more about Lanie character), is an outdoorsy nature-lover who explores her own backyard. WFTV learned Nadia had a book about Lanie and two cameras with her in the backpack she was wearing Friday.
Nadia has a form of autism similar to Asperger's Syndrome. Friends said she's extremely bright, a spelling bee winner, but also the type to get lost in her own world.
911 CALL RELEASED
Just after Nadia was found, the 911 call reporting her disappearance, made Friday afternoon by her mom was released (hear it). During the call, Nadia's mother became so upset a neighbor had to take over.
911 CALL: Nadia's Disappearance Reported
"Hi, um, my daughter is missing, she took a bike ride and we happen to live by a pond, down by our subdivision in Barrington Estates, and I can't find her," Tanya Bloom told the dispatcher.
LAWTON ELEMENTARY CELEBRATES GOOD NEWS
Nadia is a fifth grader at Lawton Elementary in Oviedo. Teachers and administrators were glued to a television in the main office Tuesday morning after learning she was found.
"On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of Lawton Elementary, we are relieved and happy to hear that Nadia Bloom has been found. We look forward to her return to her family and friends, and share their joy at her safe recovery," Seminole County Public Schools wrote in a release issued via email late Tuesday morning.
A parent who was picking up her child told WFTV, when she walked in the main office, there was a sense of excitement and joy and everyone was watching the story unfold on television.
District leaders said administrators at the school are expected to make an announcement Tuesday about Nadia being found before school is out; they are trying, as much as they can, not to interrupt the school day for the 800 students.
"I just found out now, just saw it on the monitor inside and all I could feel was I am so happy to hear that, such wonderful news," Lawton Elementary School parent Lori Trimbuli said.
Jacqueline Green is a family friend and also has a grandchild at Lawton Elementary.
"I went all to pieces and I just thank God for sending that gentlemen out there to find her. I just can't, just can't express," she said.
School administrators had a team of nine crisis intervention counselors on campus this week. About 30 students and five teachers met with them. The counselors will stay as long as they're needed and parents will continue the conversation about Nadia's disappearance at home, because they say it's a lesson everyone can learn from.
FACEBOOK PAGE FOR NADIA REACTS
On Facebook, people were sharing their joy Tuesday with Nadia's family now that the 11-year-old has been found alive. Several groups and pages were set up for Nadia on the social networking website.
One Facebook group, Help Find Nadia Bloom, was created on Saturday. People have been posting well wishes thanking church member James King for helping bring Nadia home.
Tricia el Ferrane sent a message to the nearly 4,000 members of the group.
"They found Nadia just near her home. You are all awesome and you helped create a miracle. Thank you," Ferrane wrote.
Previous Stories: April 13, 2010: Window Of Opportunity To Find Missing Girl Narrowing April 12, 2010: Doll May Have Inspired Missing Girl To Explore Woods April 11, 2010: Search Continues For Missing 11-Year-Old
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