A 12-year-old Pasadena boy was trapped 6 feet underground for more than three hours yesterday afternoon when he became lodged in a storm-water drain while playing with friends.

"I was just checking it out," said John Wark, who was home last night after being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

His ordeal in the drain began shortly before 1 p.m., next to a soccer field in Tick Neck Park near Pasadena's Northeast High School. John was playing with three friends and they had gone into a larger storm drain without difficulty.

John said he decided to explore another drain, squeezing into the 14-inch-wide pipe and crawling about 150 feet before his shirt became snagged.

Cold and tired from crawling through the narrow tube, the 5-foot-9-inch, 120-pounder found he couldn't move to free himself.

His friends ran to call for help and 25 Anne Arundel County fire and rescue workers, including specialists from the trench rescue and confined space team, responded.

At first, the smallest member of the fire rescue team tried to go into the pipe to reach the boy, but couldn't squeeze through, said Battalion Chief John Scholz, a department spokesman.

The rescuers then used a metal rod to reach and tap on the pipe to locate the boy and began digging by hand to reach him.

While John shivered in the corrugated steel enclosure, the friends held hands and watched anxiously.

A backhoe was called in to remove the dirt. As the rescuers worked, they blew air into the pipe to make sure John had sufficient oxygen.

"Our biggest concern was for the quality of air the 12-year-old had," Scholz said.

But the air made John even colder, so the fans had to be turned off from time to time.

As the digging progressed, John said, he remained calm, even though his feet and hands were numb.

"I wasn't that worried," he said.

When rescuers reached the pipe, they cut it open and the youth crawled out. "I was glad to see them," he said.

Paramedics treated him for hypothermia at the scene before taking him to Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Scholz had no estimate on the cost of the rescue or the damage done to the pipe.

Last night, John said his arm and legs were scraped, but he otherwise felt fine, and promised to stay out of drainpipes.

Pub Date: 12/21/98