A missing 7-year-old boy and his friend were found safe ... and stuck ... in a swamp area behind Wynnmeade Parkway Thursday evening.

A search by the Peachtree City police and fire departments, along with several concerned neighbors, turned up the pair, who were reported missing around 5 p.m., police said.

With colder than normal weather, it was a race against the clock to find the stranded pair.
By 8 p.m. the children had been located and were being treated by Peachtree City medic crews and taken to a hospital for further evaluation, police said.

When the initial report was filed, the youths had been missing for approximately an hour and were last seen playing basketball in the Wynnmeade subdivision. Officials used an automatic phone messaging system to alert nearby residents of the missing child alert.

The kids were found in thick vegetation water and mud and had been unable to free themselves, police said.