Man Found Alive After 4 Months Freezing in the Mountains
Raul Fernando Gomez Circunegui reportedly got lost in May. He was trying to cross the mountains from Chile to Argentina on foot because his motorcycle broke down.
Argentine officials from the northwestern province of San Juan stumbled upon Gomez in a shelter 2,840 metres above sea level when they traveled there to record snow levels.
"The truth is that this is a miracle. We still can't believe it," San Juan Governor Jose Luis Gioja said.
"We let him talk to his wife, his mother and his daughter. I asked him: 'Are you a believer?' He told me, 'no, but now I am.'"
Sugar, raisins, rats and the shelter's leftover supplies kept Gomez alive through the Southern Hemisphere's winter.
He lost 20 kilos during the ordeal and is dehydrated. He is receiving medical attention, according to media reports.
A doctor who examined Gomez was surprised by the man's resilience. "He's a patient with high blood pressure, a history of smoking and signs of undernourishment," the doctor was quoted as saying.
But "he's going to be fine and in a few days we're going to discharge him." In 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team to Chile crashed in the Andes.
Some of the survivors sustained themselves by eating dead bodies.
Source: Reuters
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