A search is underway for an 8-year-old boy who went missing at Arizona’s Lava River Cave on Wednesday night.
Tzion Maron was reported missing at around 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday after he became separated from his family at the cave, located near Flagstaff, according to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy was last seen near the cave entrance, according to officials.
A missing poster released by law enforcement of Tzion Maron.
Coconino County Sheriff’s Office
Family reported the boy missing after they were unable to find him in the immediate area, the sheriff’s office said.
Patrol deputies and multiple search and rescue teams have spent the night and morning scouring the area, but the child had not been found as of midday Thursday. Officials said it was raining overnight in the area.
The boy is described as just over 4 feet tall and about 50 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt with blue stripes, navy blue pants and sneakers.
The entrance to Lava River Cave. Lava River Cave is 14 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Ariz.
Brady Smith/U.S. Forest Service
The Lava River Cave is a mile-long lava tube cave formed around 700,000 years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.
The cave can be as cool as 42 degrees, even in the summer, and there may be some ice inside, the Forest Service said. Rocks in the cave can also be “sharp and slippery” and visitors are told to bring two or three sources of light as it can be “very dark one mile from the nearest light source,” according to the USDA.