Driver lost in wilderness for nine days had to take disgusting step to survive
Andrew Barber was discovered on August 8 in a remote area north of McLeese Lake, located in the Cariboo region of British Columbia.
Barber has been reported missing on July 31 near the lake, where his truck had broken down.
A police helicopter flying from Prince George had spotted Barber's truck nine days after the 39-year-old was initially reported missing.
He was found in a 'boggy' area close to his truck, where he had created a shelter out of mud and sticks.
Barber had etched the word 'Help' on a rock next to his makeshift shelter and also wrote 'SOS' in the mud, according to the BBC.
In order to survive and avoid dehydration, Barber had been drinking dirty pond water.
'He was literally slurping unclean pond water to stay hydrated,' Williams Lake RCMP Staff Sergeant Brad McKinnon said, according to the Vancouver Sun.
'The human body can go a long time without food, but water is a different situation,' McKinnon added.
'I'll put it this way - had we not found him when we did, I would have had graver concerns than I currently do,' McKinnon said.
'We had been at this for nine days, and it was essentially like looking for a needle in a haystack.'
Barber also stuffed his clothes with grass to protect his body from the elements and ate anything and everything he could find in the wilderness to survive.
'He was having a hard time standing. I don't know that he would have made it another 24 hours without us recovering him,' Quesnel Search and Rescue president and manager Bob Zimmerman said.
'Once he got to the lake, he stayed there. He built himself a shelter with moss and clothing,' Zimmerman said. 'All he could do was drink the water, and I believe he may have chewed a bit of moss.'
'This outcome is the result of countless hours on the ground and in the air, using every resource and piece of technology available to us,' Quesnel SAR wrote on Facebook. 'Today's result is why we train, why we respond, and why we never give up.'
The survivor was taken to hospital for treatment and has since been released.
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