Oct 23, 2009 10:40 am US/Eastern
N.J. 'Mud Man' Tells CBS 2 HD Of Ordeal
A Leisurely Day Of Fishing On Local Reservoir Turned Into A Life And Death Struggle For 81-Year-Old Al Casamenti
By KATHRYN BROWN, CBS 2 HD News
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Al Casamenti, 81, is finally rescued after spending hours trapped in waist-deep mud in a reservoir in New Jersey on Oct. 22, 2009.
CBS
It was an incredible rescue that you first saw on CBS 2 HD. An elderly man got stuck in several feet of thick mud in New Jersey.
A team of emergency workers struggled through the goop to pull him out. CBS 2 HD spoke to him about his ordeal.
The scene was almost unbelievable – 81-year-old Al Casamenti was stuck waist-deep in mud and sinking rapidly.
"I just said help! Anything, just so they could hear me!" Casamenti said.
Casamenti was hiking through remote woods in Haworth on the way to his regular fishing spot when he decided to take a short-cut. Before he knew it he was going down.
"He took that extra step, sunk down and the more he tried to step out of the mud the deeper he went in," Haworth Police Officer Thomas Ryan said.
"Luckily I had this big tree to hang onto so that helped me out a lot," Casamenti added.
Casamenti managed to grab his cell phone and call 911 and direct rescuers to him. When they found him about 20 minutes later he was clinging desperately to a branch to stay aboveground.
"I told him not to move because I didn't want him sinking any deeper," Officer Alex Vanuzzi said.
"They sort of stretched their ladders over the mud and everything so they could get to me. Then they put some stuff under my arm, some ropes," Casamenti said.
Amazingly, Casamenti wasn't seriously injured and was back at his home in Hackensack. He showed CBS 2 HD his mud-covered clothes.
When asked if he's going to ever take that short cut again, Casamenti laughed, "I doubt it. I probably won't even go fishing anymore."
A lucky and undoubtedly memorable lesson for this 81-year-old, who said he is grateful beyond words to the rescuers who saved his life.
Rescue crews said Casamenti's cell phone saved his life, and urge anyone traveling alone in isolated spots to keep one handy.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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