The miracle of being trapped in snow for 16 days and still surviving

On December 27, 2000, major American television media turned their cameras on an incredible survival story that happened before Christmas: a US Air Force soldier and his car were buried under the snow for 16 days, on Christmas Eve. It was accidentally discovered and miraculously survived.

　　The snowmobile accidentally "flipped" out of the buried car

　　Since December 2000, Oregon, located in the northwestern United States, has been affected by a cold snap, and heavy snowstorms have been falling intermittently with strong winds for nearly 20 days. Until December 22, before Christmas, the heavy snow finally stopped. The local weather station measured that the snow fell more than 5 feet thick (equivalent to at least 153 centimeters), which is very rare in the state's history.

　　The Bloom couple, who live in the small town of Donald in Merion, Oregon, are ski enthusiasts. After the weather cleared on December 22, the couple drove their snowmobiles to the dedicated ski park to find some excitement, but found it crowded with skiers and returned disappointed.

　　Just after noon the next day, the Bloom couple, the Remus father and daughter, and three other friends rode four snowmobiles to the Durchester National Forest. Along the way, these people laughed and laughed, and the wind was fast and exciting.

　　Just over a mile into Forest Park, Bloom's snowmobile was suddenly scraped by something, and the sled nearly lost control and overturned, causing the Bloom couple to sweat.

　　The couple stopped the sled and found that what had nearly overturned their sled was a black travel bag brought out of the snow by the blade of the sled, lying on the white snow, very eye-catching.

　　Bloom walked over to pick up the travel bag, found it frozen hard from the snow, unzipped the bag, and it was empty inside.

　　"Who threw it here? Could anyone come to this ghost place?" Bloom looked around curiously, seeing nothing but a white snowfield.

　　"What's that?" his wife, Joan, exclaimed suddenly. Bloom followed his wife's finger and saw a small bump in the snow where the sled had brought the bag out. He walked over and kicked the snow, and accidentally found another piece of clothing.

　　"Someone really came!" Bloom continued to dig with both hands, and suddenly, a piece of glass was exposed, shining white in the sun, very dazzling. Bloom picked up another handful of snow with his hands: Oh my God, this is actually the window of a car, and a car is buried under the snow.

　　Hearing the Bloom couple's cry, several other companions also stopped their sleds and surrounded them. Is there anyone in the car? Bloom looked into the car with his eyes pressed against the 3-inch-thick window, but because of a thick layer of frost on the glass inside the window, he couldn't see anything. A companion said that the owner of the car may have left the car here and ran away when he saw the heavy snow covering the mountain.

　　Bloom shook his head: "With such a heavy snow, where would the owner run to? Besides, it's so cold, would he throw his clothes down? Something must have happened here, maybe the owner is still in the car."

　　When everyone heard that it made sense, they shouted loudly and banged on the windows desperately. After a minute, a miracle happened: two dull knocks came from the window, and then a hand was pressed against the window in the car.

　　Several skiers were startled when they saw this scene: "Oh my God, there are really people in the car!"

　　Christmas carnival turns into rescue operation

　　A pre-Christmas snow bash immediately turned into a desperate rescue operation. Bloom and others have never encountered a situation of rescuing people from the snow, and it is imperative to seek the assistance of the police and medical units. Due to the remote location of Forest Park and the lack of mobile phones, Bloom asked his wife and Remus and other six people to use hand tools to pick up the snow buried in the car door to save people. He stepped on the sleigh and rushed to the town to find rescuers.

　　It took Remus, Joan and others three hours to clean the snow blocking the car door with their hands, when the police firefighters also arrived. Everyone opened the door with all hands and found a man lying on the driver's seat in the car. What makes people feel incredible is that the man was only wearing a T-shirt on his upper body and no other cotton-padded clothes. His face was extremely pale, very ugly, his body temperature was terribly low, and even his hands had a layer of frost.

　　Joan immediately took off her pair of woolen socks and put them on the man's hands. Someone also contributed a pair of woolen pants and put them on him. The man was doing fine, but he couldn't say a word, muttered vaguely, and kept nodding to the crowd.

　　At this time, the rescue team's helicopter also arrived, but it was unable to land in the forest. Rescuers had to put the man on a special stretcher, drag the man out of the forest with a snowmobile for more than a mile, and put it into the helicopter that had been waiting there.

　　The man was quickly taken to St. Charles Medical Center for emergency treatment. After three days of emergency rescue, the man recovered quickly and was able to speak. Only then did it become known that the man trapped in the snow turned out to be a soldier at a US Air Force base.

　　Left AWOL and was trapped in the snow and nearly lost his life

　　The rescued American soldier, Thomas Wade Trout, is 29 years old and lives in Jacksonville, Florida. In June 2000, he enlisted in the Air Force and served at U.S. Air Force Base Ellsworth, Roped, South Dakota. He worked as an oiler at the base, driving fuel trucks and refueling fighter jets.

　　On December 3, 2000, Thomas had a personal quarrel with his colleagues at the base and was criticized by his boss. In a fit of rage, he went AWOL and fled the base westward in his own Mazda sports car. He drove through Utah, Colorado, and the Rocky Mountains.

　　After enjoying the beautiful scenery of California, on December 7, he drove to the remote Dechaster National Forest Park in Oregon, located in the northwestern United States.

　　At this time, the weather took a turn for the worse, and strong winds and heavy snow hit Oregon. Thomas had just driven more than a mile down the logging path into the park when he was trapped in the snow, unable to move forward or retreat. He never imagined at the time that the trap would be 16 days.

　　After the car ran out of fuel, the heating in the car was gone. Thomas was wearing only a T-shirt when he escaped from the base, and of course he couldn't stand the cold ghost weather. He touched his pocket, but fortunately there was a lighter. He got out of the car to find some dry wood and lit a small fire with a lighter to keep warm. The wind was very strong, and the fire was blown out from time to time. Thomas had to keep relighting it with a lighter. Later, the lighter finally couldn't shoot sparks. It was sparsely populated here, and no one was seen for a long time. At this time, he was cold and hungry in the strong wind and snow, and he decided to walk out of the forest alone. But after 3 days without a drop of water, he was too weak. After walking a few steps, he was blown into the snow by the strong wind.

　　Thomas struggled to get into the car, begging God to end the hellish weather sooner, but the blizzard kept falling. Fortunately, Thomas found a few bottles of orange juice in a can, a small bottle of water and a small bag of chocolate almonds in the car. This poor food became his only life-saving food.

　　The blizzard showed no signs of stopping, and Thomas, who was freezing and hungry, thought of death. He tore off a piece of paper and wrote a suicide note to his parents in Florida: "... I died of freezing and starvation, please don't let the forensic doctor come back and autopsy the body to find out the cause of death. After I die, please cremate me, and the ashes are best scattered in Norway, because that was my home country and hometown, where there are the ice and snow fields I love so much, and the people I love so much..."

　　After writing his suicide note, Thomas stayed quietly and waited to die. Sitting in the driver's seat watching the snow pile up outside the window day by day, he was helpless until the snow completely buried his car. The car disappeared into the vast snowfield, and no one knew what was going on here.

　　Santa sends a rescuer

　　On Friday, December 22, Thomas, who had been in the car for 15 days, was in a coma. In a daze, he suddenly heard what seemed to be the sound of a snowmobile above his head. Awakened, he was overjoyed: This is the rescuer sent by Santa Claus, and I must seize the opportunity. However, he could no longer shout for help.

　　Thomas rolled down the window, pushed aside the snow, and threw out his black travel bag, notebook, and even a precious piece of warm clothing, hoping the people above would find him. However, the sound of the sled gradually faded away, and a gust of wind blew, and the snow covered up his car again. Thomas was completely desperate.

　　However, there is no way out. Unexpectedly, Bloom and his friends drove a sleigh to the place where Thomas was buried the next day, and found the trace of Thomas.

　　The hospital said that Thomas was severely dehydrated when he was rescued. He lost 20 pounds from his original 175 pounds. His body was on the verge of extremely dangerous low temperature, and his hands and feet were severely frostbitten. He was trapped in the snow for 16 days and still survived. This is really an unprecedented miracle. miracle.