Washington Kids Narrowly Escape Quicksand

March 29, 2011— -- Four young adventurers in Spokane, Wash., didn't have to look far to find adventure—and it would have ended in tragedy were it not for the quick thinking of one of the children.

Seven-year-old Katie Hiatt and her brother Carl met up last Saturday with brothers Andrew and Caleb Hummel to go exploring and came upon a mud pit to play in.

Little did they know that underneath the mud pit was dangerous quicksand.

"My shoe got stick and I pulled it out," said Andrew Hummel. "By that time, Katie and Carl were sinking."

"I couldn't get myself out," said Katie Hiatt. She and Andrew were trapped waste-deep in that quicksand.

That's when Caleb Hummel ran for help. The more the stuck kids struggled, the faster they sunk.

Hummel found Larry Pilcher, a developer showing homes nearby. Pilcher then called 911.

"We've got two kids in what seems to be quicksand they're sinking and can't get out," Pilcher told the dispatcher.

Quicksand is notoriously difficult to escape from. The more a person moves, the faster they sink.

By the time firefighter John Merrick arrived, the mud was at Katie Hiatt's chest and she was freezing.

"She was shivering real bad so," Merrick said. "I climbed in the mud with her to start digging her out."

After about thirty minutes, the rescuers were finally able to pull the kids free.

"Now my brother's scared of mud," said Caleb Hummel. "I'm not scared of mud!" his brother quickly replied.