Boy buried by Indiana sand dune leaves hospital

A 6-year-old Illinois boy who survived being buried by a sand dune has been released from the hospital, less than two weeks after the accident in Indiana.

Officials said Nathan Woessner of Sterling was discharged late Tuesday afternoon from the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital.

The boy was rescued after being buried for more than three hours on July 12 in a dune called Mount Baldy at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

The hospital says Nathan will continue to receive rehabilitative therapy. Doctors say he walked without assistance Sunday and was cleared to visit the hospital playroom Monday.

Doctors initially put Nathan in a medically induced coma. They say he’s expected to make a full neurological recovery but may suffer lingering lung problems from inhaling sand.