By Dan Elliott
Associated Press

DENVER — An autistic man lived on frogs and roots as he wandered for weeks in the remote Escalante Desert of southern Utah until being rescued, emaciated but alive.

William Martin LaFever, 28, of Colorado Springs, Colo., told rescuers that in addition to the bits of food he scavenged, including a few frogs he caught, he drank water from the Escalante River while attempting to walk from Boulder, Utah, to

Page, Ariz., a distance of approximately 90 miles or more by the route he appeared to be taking.

The Garfield County Sheriff's Department estimated he had traveled about 40 miles over at least three weeks before he was found Thursday.

"It is some of the most rugged, unforgiving terrain you will find anywhere on Earth, jagged cliffs, stone ledges, sandstone, sagebrush, juniper," sheriff's spokeswoman Becki Bronson said in a telephone interview.

"Where William was hiking, there just isn't anyone out there," she said. "There are no people. There are no towns."

The sheriff's department said it was remarkable that searchers aboard a helicopter were able to find LaFever at all, much less alive.

Deputy Ray Gardner, who had recently completed training in search and rescue operations for people with autism and was aboard the helicopter, said LaFever would not have survived another 24 hours.

The helicopter took LaFever to Garfield Memorial Hospital in Panguitch. The hospital said it could not release any information on his condition.

http://www.ems1.com/search-rescue/articles/1314518-Autistic-man-rescued-after-3-weeks-in-Utah-desert/

BOISE, Idaho — Hours after their plane crashed on a steep and snowy mountainside in Idaho, a California fireman, his wife and their daughter were airlifted to safety by National Guard rescuers.

The family was en route from California to Mountain Home, Idaho, when their Cessna 172 went down Saturday night, leaving them with head and back injuries, officials said.

One of them used a cellphone just after midnight to report that they had survived the crash.

A medical helicopter located the wreckage Sunday morning, but whiteout conditions prevented the aircraft crew from carrying out an immediate rescue, said Col. Tim Marsano of the Idaho National Guard.

Rescuers who walked through 6-foot snowdrifts and on 60-degree slopes reached the crash site first. They wrapped the family members in blankets and built a fire until a military helicopter could lift them out with a hoist.

"It was inhospitable for a landing," Marsano said. "The use of the helicopter was indispensable for this type of rescue operation."

The three were flown one at a time to a landing area about a half-mile from War Eagle Mountain in southwest Idaho's Owyhee County. They were later flown to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where they remain in stable condition Monday.

Source: www.ems1.com