Texas couple survives being stranded 6 days in rural Utah

Salt Lake City (US), Oct 14 (AP) A Texas couple who setout for a day trip to Lake Powell while on vacation insouthern Utah ended up narrowly surviv...
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Salt Lake City (US), Oct 14 (AP) A Texas couple who setout for a day trip to Lake Powell while on vacation insouthern Utah ended up narrowly surviving six harrowing daysstranded on a rocky, desolate dirt road that was impassable intheir rental car, authorities have said.

Helena Byler, 78, was found lying on the road October 2by a rancher who happened to be checking on his cattle in thearea of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, KaneCounty Chief Deputy Alan Alldredge said. She was confused andseverely dehydrated.

Search and rescue teams aboard a helicopter found herhusband, Gerald Byler, 76, later that day in a trailer he tookshelter in after spotting an SOS sign made out of rocks andflowers that was nearby. He was severely dehydrated and unableto move, but could speak with rescuers.

Gerald Byler remained hospitalised yesterday in StGeorge, where he is in good condition in a neuro specialtyrehabilitation unit at Dixie Regional Medical Center, saidhospital spokeswoman McKoye Mecham. Helena Byler only had tospend one night in the hospital.

The couple from Houston may not have survived one moreday in the extremely remote area with no cellphone coveragewhere it's normal to go a full week without any cars using theroad, Alldredge said. They had hardly any food or water,drinking only from puddles that formed in the ground afterrains.

"It's an amazing story," Alldredge said.

The couple left their motel in a small town of Kanab,Utah, in the morning on September 26 to drive to Lake Powellin a rental sedan and took a rocky dirt road while followingdirections from a GPS-mapping app, he said.

The dirt road that winds through a small canyon has largerocks and 18-inch drops at some points, Alldredge said. Thecouple turned around when they realized they were on the wrongroad, but they couldn't get out.

Helena Byler said yesterday in an interview at thehospital that she sensed they were on the wrong road, but thather husband insisted on continuing, KSL-TV reports.

"I told Gerry, 'Sweetheart, this doesn't sound right.'And he said, 'No it's OK' ... He wanted to continue. See, uswomen know better," she said, chuckling.

After popping a tire and getting stuck, they realized theGPS app was leading them to Lake Powell trail, not the lake,Helena Byler said. They started walking back on the road andspent the first night in the open as it rained and lightningstruck nearby, she said.

The next morning, Gerald Byler couldn't go on, his leghurting too much, so she set out to get help.

"We had to do something about it, so when the GPS said 16miles, I said, 'I can do 16 miles," Helena Byler said. "Iguessed I would do what I saw on the History Channel, drinkingyour own urine."Helena Byler kept walking to get help, but she didn't seeanyone until five days later when the rancher found her.

She told rescuers that she had talked to dispatchers onthe phone, saw a helicopter coming to rescue her husband andwas in granite building and talking to other people, all ofwhich authorities believe were hallucinations triggered by herlack of food and water.

Investigators believe she may have even spent a couple ofdays in a trailer nearby the one her husband was found inwithout knowing he was nearby.

Gerald Byler said there was no heat or water in thetrailer, but that he was protected from the wind. He said hehung his towel on the side of the fence in hopes that wouldlet someone know he needed help because he has heard peopletold to do that in the Houston floods.

He said he won't let the experience stop him fromreturning to Utah, but quipped: "But I'll do a little moreplanning next time."The best route to Lake Powell from Kanab is onestablished highways, but it's not the first time touristshave gotten stuck on treacherous dirt roads that their GPSmapping apps thought would be shortcuts, Alldredge said.

He said his agency frequently rescues tourists stuck ondirt roads.

"GPS apps are great. But out here in rural Utah, theysometimes get you in trouble," Alldredge said. (AP)CPS.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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