When a 2 year-old boy from Canada became trapped down a deep hole, his rescuers were not able to save him until they followed the sound of his giggles. The child was not giggling with delight, however, and was instead laughing with joy at seeing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police riding horses to his rescue.

Courtlund Barrington-Moss was at a family reunion in Aneroid, Alberta last Monday night when his mother suddenly noticed that he was gone. A search party of 400 people was quickly put together, and they set out to find the little toddler. The group of friends, family, and locals searched all night, but they were not able to find Courtlund anywhere.

Finally, after a long twelve hours, two volunteers heard giggling coming from the woods. Even though Courtlund was stuck in a neck-deep hole, he was still able to see his rescuers and giggle at the sight of their horses.

“He saw them before they saw him, actually. He saw their horses and he started giggling and wanted to pet the horses,” said Shelby Layman, deputy fire chief of the nearby town. “The entire area just erupted with joy. It was pretty emotional. Everybody was yelling and people were running around.”

Though Courtlund was sunburned and had some scratches, he was otherwise uninjured, much to the relief of his family.

“He was honestly just exhausted and not really sure what had happened,” said his mother.

Thank goodness this story had such a happy ending!