3 boys hunkered in Mountain View forest overnight after getting lost tracking a pig

Two brothers and their cousin from the Big island — who were tracking a pig on Saturday afternoon and got lost — spent the night hunkered down in the dense forest of Mountain View, just 3 to 4 miles from their home, said Capt. Amon Rio-Wilkins with the Hawaiʻi Police Department.

The boys — 12-year-olds Kyston Madrid-Silva and Jensen Mercado-Silva and 15-year-old Jeno Mercado-Silva — got lost while heading back home in the dark. They were reported missing at midnight

Rio-Wilkins said they wisely decided to stay in one place overnight. Although young, the captain said the boys seemed fairly experienced to be in the outdoors.

Hawai‘i Island Police put out an alert Sunday at 5:33 a.m. asking the public’s help to find the missing kids. Police officers and officers with the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Conservation and Resource Enforcement responded to the Mountain View forest to look for the boys.

The Hawai‘i Fire Department also deployed its chopper to search the vast wilderness.

Rio-Wilkins said searchers heard yelling and were able to locate the boys unharmed at about 8:30 a.m.