Missing Baby Found Buried Alive Inside Dog Crate in the Woods, Father Arrested

A missing baby was found buried alive inside a dog crate in the woods ... 24 hours after his father allegedly ran off with him.

Koah Sharpe -- the 11-month-old baby boy -- had allegedly been taken by his father Monday morning in South Carolina ... NBC News reported.

Koah's father Michael Comer was watching him at the time while the child's mother was working ... but when a friend arrived, they discovered no one was home.

After the child was reported missing Monday morning ... cops found the baby's belongings inside Michael's house but no baby.

A search party comprised of 100 cops, firefighters, and officials went looking for Koah ... before stumbling upon a wooded area near Michael's house. It was there that they made a grim but ultimately miraculous discovery Tuesday at around 1:30 PM.

Somewhere underneath some freshly disturbed dirt, and crying his eyes out, was little Koah.

Lexington County Sheriff Bryan "Jay" Koon said ... "So, as you can imagine, the race was on."

Within the wire crate buried inside the recently dug-out hole ... Koah stayed alive for more than 24 hours partly due to a towel draped over the crate that Koon said "probably provided enough air for him to survive."

Michael's own mother, Patricia Comer, has since called the alleged act "pure evil."