A missing 5-year-old boy with autism has been found safe after he wandered away from his family's campsite in Pine County.

The Pine County Sheriff's Office is crediting the Project Lifesaver program, in which people at risk of wandering wear trackable devices, which gave authorities the ability to quickly locate the boy in the woods of rural Sturgeon Lake.

Deputies responded to the report of the missing boy, who is nonverbal, Friday afternoon and immediately started searching for him, with the help of drones, ATVs, a horse, drones, and a human tracking team.

Once deputies received equipment that allowed them to track the boy through a Project Lifesaver device, he was found within 20 minutes, approximately 3 miles from where he went missing.

The boy was wet and muddy but safe and alert.

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