A Florida man who went missing on Valentine’s Day was rescued Thursday after being trapped by his shoulder in mud known as “quicksand” and left without food or water for days.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said Andrew Giddens, 36, of Jacksonville, was rescued from the Vulcan Materials site east of Melrose.
Giddens’ family has not seen him since Feb. 14, and he was the subject of a missing persons report. The Sheriff’s Office said he had recently become depressed due to a breakup, and his family and friends alerted authorities.
The Sheriff’s Office said on social media that deputies on Thursday found Giddens “covered in mud and sunk below the grass surrounding the borrow pit, barely camouflaged.”
The Palatka Fire Department said on Facebook that Giddens “had been trapped in mud for days with no food or water and freezing temperatures in the area.”
A video of the incident shows officers initially struggling to pull Giddens out with a rope, then using ladders, pallets, boards and other tools to dig him out.
The Putnam County Fire Department, Palatka Fire Department, Melrose Fire Department and Clay County Fire Department all assisted Thursday. (Putnam County Fire Rescue)
(Putnam County Fire Rescue)
“In addition, due to the unstable ground, rescuers had to proceed slowly to avoid sinking,” the Sheriff’s Office added. He was finally released at 8:30 p.m. Thursday after more than two hours.
The man was able to talk to rescuers but was taken by air ambulance to a trauma center in critical condition, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Putnam County Fire Department, Palatka Fire Department, Melrose Fire Department and Clay County Fire Department all assisted in the rescue.
Officers found Giddens’ car abandoned on February 23 and had previously caught him breaking into another Vulcan Materials company in 2023.
The Sheriff’s Office said they would not consider criminal trespassing charges against Giddens “due to his mental health condition.”
“We hope he will recover from his physical and emotional ordeal,” the statement said. “We also ask family and friends to continue to check in on their loved one, especially during this time of great stress and anxiety.”
A spokesman for Vulcan said: “Our Vulcan team at Grandin Sand Factory handled a trespassing incident with care and compassion, guiding emergency personnel to treat a man in distress. We are grateful for his safe rescue and the emergency personnel for assisting him.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org Reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network (formerly the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline): 800-273-8255 or visit TalkingOfSuicide.com/resources.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com
