What started as two children playing ball in their yard ended in near tragedy Tuesday afternoon.
The 7-year-old boy, now identified as Mark Clegg, was reportedly playing ball with his 5-year-old brother when the ball was swept into the Coal River.
The older boy fell from the river's embankment into the nearly-freezing water below attempting to retrieve the ball.
According to Director of Emergency Management Greg Lay, soon after the young boy's father arrived home and found his 5-year-old son crying that his older brother had fallen into the river.
As soon as the information was heard on the scanner, area residents began scouting the river for the boy.
Three men from J&R Cable heard the information on the scanner and immediately went in search of the boy.
According to eye witnesses, upon discovering the boy, the men pulled his body from the river after several attempts.
According to eyewitness accounts, the boy was not wearing shoes, and dressed in a t-shirt, light-weight jacket, sweat pants, and white socks when his body was pulled from the river.
Emergency responders immediately attempted CPR.
He was transported to Boone Memorial Hospital in hopes that the river's near-freezing temperatures might have placed the boy's body in a cyrogenic-state.
A little after 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, the Coal Valley News learned that a pulse had been found and medical crews were still working to revive the boy, who remains in critical condition.
That same afternoon the boy was transferred to a Charleston Area hospital by HealthNet.
"It aint over yet. The last I heard he had a pulse and they are bringing his core temperature up," Lay told the Coal Valley News.
Two days following the incident, Clegg continues to receive treatment at CAMC.
According to officials, the Coal River was elevated to 13-feet Tuesday, with temperatures just above freezing.
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