Rescued hostage boy is well

The grandmother of a five-year-old held hostage for a week in an underground bunker in rural Alabama has said the boy is fine physically, but that she fears the ordeal could stay with him the rest of his life.

Betty Jean Ransbottom said the boy, who turned six yesterday, seemed fine in hospital after his rescue, but the family is not yet sure how he is coping mentally.

The boy was abducted from a school bus last week after 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes shot the driver and took the child back to a bunker on his property.