Lost man spent 9 days living off dirty pond water until rescuers spotted ‘HELP’ carved into rock
A missing man miraculously survived nine days in the Canadian wilderness living off dirty pond water — before he was finally found thanks to a giant “HELP” he carved into a rock.
Andrew Barber, 39, was finally found Friday when a helicopter spotted his sign — as well as “SOS” on the ground — more than a week into the search sparked by his truck breaking down in a remote part of British Columbia’s vast Cariboo region.
Barber was found near a rock where he had scrawled “HELP” for his rescuers.Quesnel Search and Rescue
The trained survivalist — who ironically has “I am still here” tattooed on an arm — was found sheltering under a makeshift mud lean-to next to the signs, rescuers said.
“He sustained some injuries and was severely dehydrated. We found him at the right time,” Staff Sgt. Brad McKinnon of the Williams Lake RCMP told the Vancouver Island Free Daily.
“He was having a hard time standing,” Bob Zimmerman, president of Quesnel Search and Rescue, told the CBC.
“I don’t know that he would have made it another 24 hours without us recovering him.”
It’s not clear why he was in the Cariboo region, a boggy, mostly rural part of the country north of Vancouver that is “beautiful” but “immense,” McKinnon said. He was reported missing on July 31, but was last seen three days before that.
“He was literally slurping unclean pond water to stay hydrated,” McKinnon told the Globe and Mail. “The human body can go a long time without food, but water is a different situation.”
McKinnon said Barber desperately “munched on whatever he could find” as he waited for help to arrive.
Barber was airlifted to Cariboo Memorial Hospital, where he’s expected to make a full recovery.
