Published : Feb. 19, 2012 - 09:09
A snowed covered car sits roadside in the woods north of Umea in Northern Sweden on Saturday. (AFP)
A man was pulled alive from a snowed-in car on a deserted forest road in northern Sweden where he had been stranded and without food for at least two months in freezing temperatures, police said Saturday.
"We received word yesterday (Friday) that a person had been found in a snow-covered car deep in the woods, more than 1.5 kilometers from the main road," Ebbe Nyberg, a duty officer in the northern Vaesterbotten county, told AFP.
A man on a snowscooter had noticed the top of the car on the deserted and snowfilled forest road, not far from the northern town of Umeaa, just south of the Arctic Circle, and after clearing off some of the snow had peered inside.
"He saw movement and realised there was probably a person in there and called the police," Nyberg said, adding that rescue services and an ambulance that had been belted to drive on the snow had rushed to the scene.
They were amazed at what they found: A man in his mid-40s huddled inside in a sleeping bag "in really bad shape," starving and barely able to move or speak.
Nyberg said it was unclear exactly how long the man, who is from the central Swedish town of Oerebro, had been stuck, but pointed out that the car must have been driven to the deserted spot "before it began snowing in the autumn."
"He says himself he has been without food since December, so we think he must have got there around then, or perhaps earlier, in November," he said, pointing out that temperatures in the area have recently plunged as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.
"It's just amazing he's alive!"
The man, who had not been reported missing and who has yet to say how he got stuck, appeared to have survived on nothing but snow since mid-December.
After his rescue, he was rushed to the Norrlands University Hospital, said Nyberg, who could provide no details on his condition. (AFP)
음식도 없이 눈 덮인 자동차에서 두 달이나…
영하 30℃ 혹한에 눈만 먹으며 버티다 구조
눈 덮인 자동차 안에서 최소 두 달간 음식도 없이 갇혀 있던 한 스웨덴 남성이 살아남아 경찰에 구조됐다.
스웨덴 북부의 베스테르보텐주(州) 경찰은 18일(현지시간) 북극권과 가까운 우메오시(市) 인근의 눈 쌓인 숲길에서 40대 남성을 구조했다고 밝혔다.
경찰은 도로에서 1.5km 이상 떨어진 숲길을 순찰하던 중 지붕까지 눈에 덮인 차 량을 발견했다. 눈을 치워보니 차 안에는 한 남성이 침낭 안에서 웅크리고 있었다.
경찰은 이 남성의 상태가 매우 안 좋았다면서 오랫동안 굶주려 말을 하거나 움 직일 수도 없었다고 전했다.
경찰은 스웨덴 중부 외레브로 출신인 그가 얼마나 오랫동안 갇혀 있었는지 확실 하지 않았다고 말했다. 그러나 남성의 차는 눈이 내리기 전인 가을부터 발견된 지점 에 있었던 것이 틀림없다고 설명했다.
에베 니버그 경관은 "그는 지난해 12월부터 먹을 게 없었다고 혼잣말을 했다"며 발견된 남성이 12월이나 11월께부터 차 안에 갇혔을 것으로 추정했다.
니버그 경관은 이 지역 기온이 최근 영하 30℃까지 떨어졌다며 "그가 살아있는 것은 정말 놀라운 일"이라고 말했다.
경찰에 따르면 발견된 남성에 대한 실종 신고는 되지 않았으며, 그는 눈만 먹으며 최소 두 달간 차 안에서 지낸 것으로 보인다. (연합뉴스)