Three People Rescued from Oregon Forest after Being Lost for Six Days
A couple and their son were looking for mushrooms in a forest in Oregon when they ended up lost. For the next six days, they crowded inside a hollowed out tree in the chilly temperatures and drank water from some of the streams they came across during the daylight hours. The three were eventually rescued when a helicopter pilot caught sight of a slight movement in a ravine.
Danial and Belinda Conne, as well as their son Michael, 25, were in remarkably good shape after their six day ordeal. All three were taken by air ambulance to a hospital in Gold Beach, Oregon. Daniel was suffering from an injury to his back. Michael had minor frostbite and an injury to his foot. Belinda was suffering from hypothermia. All three members of the family were very hungry and dehydrated.
The Connes said that they could saw helicopters several times while they were lost, but they were too far in the forest for rescuers to see them. The hikers had nothing with them that could be used to signal the helicopters. The Connes stayed in the same place so they could use the hollowed out tree for shelter.
Food was scarce in the area, but there was fresh water. The weather stayed clear for the most part and temperatures hovered between 40 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The family was eventually rescued by John Rachor, who is a Jackson County Commissioner. He was searching in a helicopter that he owned and a lieutenant with the Curry County Sheriff’s Department was with him
This isn’t the first time that Rachor has found stranded hikers. In 2006, he found a family from San Francisco who had been lost in an area that was only 35 miles from where the Conne family was found. Kati Kim and her two daughters were picked up by Rachor. The husband and father, James, had not survived the ordeal, succumbing to hypothermia while trying to go get help.
