The women spent 5 days under snowy debris in a car at -15°C until they were rescued. Their story is told new york post.
Two women who disappeared during a snowstorm in Maine were found five days later. Miraculously, they survived in their SUV without food or heat. It was later reported that the temperature dropped to -15℉, or about -26℃.
Kimberly Pushard, 51, and Angela Bussell, 50, were last seen refueling their jeeps in Springfield, 240 miles from their Vermont home, on Wednesday, February 22. Reportedly, they left the day before to go bowling.
It is also known that both women have limited mental abilities. They disappeared and the women’s phones ran out of charge when family members and the police tried to divert them from afar. Soon they ran out of gas too.
State rescuers had to use helicopters, planes and cars. Searches were also made in neighboring Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
On Sunday, February 26, they were finally discovered by a forester on a snowmobile. He spotted a red SUV covered in snow, but it ran out of gas in that moment.
The man was aware of the call and addressed the women by name. The woodsman admitted that he would not seek this path.
“Things like this always happen by chance. I think it should have been,” the man said in an interview with Times Record.
The women had no food, and only a half-empty bottle of Mountain Dew remained, but even that was frozen.
“If they had run out of gas on the first day, things might have been different,” said the state’s rescue services chief.
As a result, the women only spent one day without being completely warmed up. The rescuer said the victims would not have survived had they tried to get help on foot, as this road is quite far from main roads and normal traffic. One of the women was diagnosed with frostbite, but was discharged from the hospital that evening. The other has bruises and muscle tension.
Previously reportedA skier caught in the avalanche was rescued by a hand sticking out of the snowdrift after hours of searching.