INTO THE WILD

10-Year-Old Survives 24 Hours in Washington State Wilderness

After getting separated from her family, Shunghla Mashwani followed a river downstream and slept in the forest before rescuers founds her with “minor scrapes.”

A 10-year-old girl in Washington state survived a full day on her own in the mountain wilderness, stunning her rescuers. The girl, Shunghla Mashwani, became separated from her family members, who were hiking the region, on Sunday, and rescuers didn’t recover her until 3 p.m. the next day. In the interim, the local sheriff’s office said, she proved extremely resourceful, trekking through dense forest downstream before falling asleep among the trees. “I was trying to go to sleep in the night and then wake up early in the morning, and then I’ll find my dad and mom in the forest,” Shunghla told Seattle-based TV station KING. The next day, a pair of rescuers found Shunghla “with only minor scrapes” 1.5 miles south of where she went missing, and they used an inflatable rescue boat to bring her safety.