Accidental HERO! Teen walks past cave and finds man, missing over a month, stuck inside

A teenager taking a walk through the woods stumbled upon a cave-like hole on Wednesday and spontaneously yelled inside, hoping to hear his echo. Instead, he heard the cries of a man who’d been stuck in there for 20 days.

Plymouth Herald reports that Izaak Eglington-Watts, 19, was walking through Plymbridge Woods in Plymouth, UK, with a friend, Emily Thompson, when he spotted the large hole. He thought it would be fun to hear his own echo, so he shouted loudly. Within seconds, a man identified as James Thompson, 51, replied in a weak, weary tone.

Eglington-Watts climbed into the cave, and kept calling to Thompson, who responded back. The teen kept climbing  into different sections, going further and further into the cave-hole. He recalled how it frightened him, but he was determined to assist the man calling out for help.

“Then I climbed up into another section which lead into another hole and shouted hello again, which is when I got a reply back. It obviously scared me as it was pitch black down there, and all I had was my phone flash, but I couldn’t really see anything.”

When Eglington-Watts couldn’t find Thompson, he walked out of the cave and flagged down two runners that were passing by. The runners, along with Eglington-Watts and Thompson, spotted contractor workers nearby and asked for assistance. The contractors phoned the police.

The Cornwall Police arrived and pulled Thompson to safety. They released a statement shortly after.

“James Thompson who was missing from Plymouth was located safely late yesterday afternoon [April 5] in Plympton. The police would like to thank the public for their assistance.”

Family and friends were frantically searching for Thompson for weeks. Authorities launched several searches for Thomas after his disappearance. They stated that he was extremely dehydrated and close to death when he was rescued. He apparently injured his ankle after disappearing from home, and crawled into the hole for shelter, but couldn’t make his way out.

[Feature Photo: Handout]