A man who had been missing from his home near Houston since Saturday was found alive Monday at the bottom of a 30-foot-deep manhole, according to local news reports.
The Houston Chronicle reported that rescuers pulled Kevin Gonterman from the hole in League City, located about 26 miles southeast of Houston, at about 1 p.m. after members of a volunteer horse-borne search team discovered him in the hole earlier. The hole, located about 150 yards from the road, is about 4 or 5 feet in diameter and is labeled "sewage," the paper said.
Gonterman had been bitten by snakes, EquuSearch's Frank Black told the Chronicle, but was conscious and speaking lucidly during his rescue. After being pulled out of the hold by the Houston Fire Department, he was taken to an area hospital, the paper said.
“In my opinion, I don’t think he would have lasted through to the evening,” Black told the local Bay Area Citizen newspaper.
“He obviously was suffering from dehydration,” Black told the Citizen. “He looked delirious.”
Gonterman was last seen at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday and his girlfriend reported him missing on Sunday, Sgt. John Jordan of the League City Police Department told the Chronicle.
Jordan couldn't say how Gonterman ended up in the hole, or how long he had been stuck.
"That's all questions we're going to ask when he gets out of there," Jordan told the paper before Gonterman was pulled from the manhole.