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Searchers found 11-year-old Nadia Bloom alive on April 13, 2010, after four days in an alligator-filled swamp near Winter Springs, Florida, police said.

Nadia had been riding her bicycle near her home on the evening of April 9, 2010, when she failed to come home. The fifth-grader had asked her mother, Tanya Bloom, if she could take a quick bike ride and grabbed her backpack "for her treasures," Tanya Bloom said at a news conference, according to ABC News.

When Nadia did not return, her bicycle and helmet were found abandoned in the neighborhood, touching off a search that grew from a handful of neighbors to police with bloodhounds and, within days, hundreds of volunteers. Nadia has Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, but her mother told reporters the diagnosis had little to do with her getting lost and said her daughter was simply curious and was not prone to wandering off.

James King, a member of the Bloom family's church who had joined the search, found Nadia in a dry patch amid a lake area authorities described as one of the most alligator-filled in central Florida. "Hey, I've got her. I've got Nadia," King told a 911 dispatcher, according to CBS News. King said he believed he had been divinely guided to her.

It took rescuers nearly two hours to carry Nadia out of the dense brush and swamp. Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle called her survival a miracle and said Nadia told rescuers, "I'm glad you guys found me," and "I can't believe you guys rescued me."

Nadia was taken to South Seminole Hospital in Longwood, where she was treated for dehydration, insect bites and scratches. Her physician, Dr. Mary Farrell, said she had no fever and was eating and drinking normally, and doctors expected to release her within days. Her father, Jeff Bloom, credited the community response for bringing his daughter home safely, saying, "It all came so fast and it just shows the compassion of the human spirit."