Michigan woman, 74, found alive in woods days after car caught fire while heading home
A 74-year-old Michigan woman reported missing last week was found alive Sunday in a wooded area after having survived days of freezing temperatures that left her unable to seek help.
Authorities investigating a burned vehicle on a private road in Grant Township on Sunday afternoon called police after they recognized it as matching the description of one linked to a woman missing from the city of Norton Shores, authorities said.
Authorities launched an aerial search using a drone and soon located the missing woman, whom the Norton Shores Police Department identified as local resident Nancy Bloomquist, about 150 yards from the SUV.
She was last seen at the Little River Casino, about 95 miles north of Norton Shores, on Thursday a few hours before nightfall, the police department said in a statement. Police believe she was driving home in her 2024 GMC Terrain when she got lost on a private road and her vehicle became disabled.
Overnight Thursday into Friday, the area was hit with rain and freezing temperatures. In the stretch between Thursday and Sunday, a front produced rain and light snow, and temperatures dipped below 22 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.
The Mason County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook that Bloomquist fled the vehicle after it erupted in flames but tried to return because she had left her phone inside.
Mason County Sheriff Kim C. Cole told WZZM-TV of Grand Rapids that the SUV may have ignited after its engine was exhausted in an effort to gain traction off-road in weather he described as life-threatening. Cole did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
Bloomquist got lost as she was trying to return to her car and, amid the rain and debilitating cold, her body locked up, the sheriff's office said. She sought shelter next to a downed tree, where she apparently stayed for three days until she was discovered by a search team Sunday after a drone spotted her, the sheriff's office said in its statement.
The sheriff's office said Bloomquist was conscious and spoke to arriving deputies. She was taken to a hospital and treated for exposure, WZZM reported.
Norton Shores is on the eastern coast of Lake Michigan about 38 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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