(CITRONELLE, Ala.) - Officials working to rescue an eleven year old boy who was trapped under a boulder in Citronelle now say the child has died.
It happened Tuesday afternoon on Reed Road off Lonnie Walker Road in Citronelle. The rock weighed 84 tons and crews worked for nearly 3 hours to rescue him.
The boy, identified by family friends as Daniel Gartman, was playing with a friend when it happened. They say the friend was around the same age.
One child was standing on top of the boulder, which is about the size of a car, when it fell onto the victim.
Several agencies assisted in the attempted rescue.
Neighbors say kids played on the boulders in the area often, and they had never seemed unstable before.
While authorities are still unclear what caused the rock to fall, they do say the heavy amount of rain lately could be a contributing factor. Authorities are not sure how long he was under the rock before he died.
