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A heroic Mississippi neighbor used his bare hands to dig through smouldering wreckage to rescue a 4-year-old boy trapped in a house fire, recently released police bodycam shows.
Kennard Hodge tirelessly worked his way through the rubble to rescue the child, who was the only one out of six minors still inside, WAPT reported.
The boy, who was covered in burns, was trapped in a bedroom when the blaze consumed the property in the small town of Edwards, Hinds County, on Oct. 7.
Hodge was among neighbors who searched through the debris while fire crews tried to control the raging blaze.
The brave neighbor, wearing a yellow shirt, sifted through the rubble – and grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him to safety.
“You got him?” a first responder asked Hodge.
“Yeah, I got him, got him, got him! Hodge said.
Hodge said he wanted to give the baby a “chance” of survival, explaining his quick-thinking decision to intervene.
The child, however, wasn’t breathing and he was given CPR at the scene – before being rushed to the hospital.
“Come on, little man… Hang in there bud,” a responding cop said in the bodycam.
Hinds County Sheriff’s Office said in an Oct. 8 update the boy was in a “very critical condition.” No further update on his condition has been provided.
“This, it was nothing short of a miracle,” Terrence Crump, the Edwards police chief, said, hailing the dramatic rescue effort.
Five other kids, whose ages range from 2 to 13, were rescued from the burning property.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, with the origin and manner of the blaze also being probed, cops said.
Investigators “will be interviewing several individuals connected to the incident,” sheriffs added.