A restaurant owner in upstate New York got the surprise of his life when dozens of schoolgirls emerged through a drain onto his patio, after a group from an unauthorised school trip became lost while exploring an underground culvert and had to be rescued by emergency services.
The chaos unfolded when around 70 eighth and ninth-grade girls from a private school in Ramapo were visiting Memorial Park in Nyack, a village in Rockland County, on a trip that Mayor Joseph Rand confirmed did not have the required permit. A number of the students decided to explore a drainage culvert and ended up walking more than half a mile underground, though Rand later clarified that not all 70 girls had entered the tunnel.
“At some point, they got lost, confused, scared, or some combination, and they tried to get out,” Rand said in a social media post. “People heard them and called 911. First responders immediately came to the scene and located all the girls at various points in Nyack.” He confirmed that all the girls emerged on their own and were accounted for, with only a few minor cuts and scrapes reported.
Many of the students surfaced through a drain at Hudson House, a local restaurant, leaving owner Matt Hudson stunned. “I was in the office when I heard kids chattering,” he told CBS News. “I was like, where is that coming from? Sure enough, we came back here into the patio, looked here, and it was filling up with kids. They were fine, but they were excitedly talking. They were happy to be getting out of here.”
Hudson said all the girls were safe and praised the response from first responders, but warned of the dangers the students had unknowingly faced. “If it rained, it would have made it difficult for them to escape,” he said. “We’ve been here almost 36 years. We thought we saw it all, but no, no, there are still some surprises here.”
Footage of the aftermath captured by News 12 showed dozens of schoolgirls in long dresses walking along a sidewalk near the restaurant as police looked on. Rand thanked the multiple police and fire departments that responded to escort the students to safety, and used the incident as an opportunity to issue a clear warning to the wider community: “Please don’t go into the culvert at Memorial Park.”
