A Canadian man who went missing for more than a week in the country’s vast wilderness was finally rescued after etching the word “HELP” onto a rock and drinking muddy pond water to survive. Andrew Barber, 39, was found alive on Aug. 8 after going missing a week prior near McLeese Lake, around 365 miles north of Vancouver. Barber became stuck in the wilderness after his truck broke down in the remote area, but survived despite severe dehydration and sustaining a leg injury by building himself a makeshift shelter out of sticks and wood and drinking water from a nearby pond. Rescuer Sgt Brad McKinnon of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said he had survived by “munching on whatever he could find” in the woods and keeping himself hydrated. “He was literally slurping unclean pond water,” McKinnon told reporters. “The human body can go a long time without food, but water is a different situation.” Barber was eventually found after rescuers spotted an SOS sign he had carved into the mud, and he was airlifted to hospital, where he has since been released. McKinnon credits his ingenuity and “above average understanding of the wilderness” for his survival. Quesnel Search and Rescue President Bob Zimmerman later told CDC he didn’t think Barber would have survived for another 24 hours.
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