It was an early morning in mid-December, with the temperature widely below zero . Tyson Steele wanted to light the wood stove in his cabin in Alaska, but he made a mistake by inserting a piece of cardboard into it. Quickly, the entire structure set fire. And he was left homeless, trapped in a remote area and in conditions of extreme cold. Until they found him alive, more than 20 days later.
An air rescue team located this 30-year-old man last Thursday. A video broadcast on Facebook by the Alaska State Police and taken from a helicopter shows him while he waves his arms to get the attention of rescuers, in the middle of an area full of snow, with a large SOS sign drawn at his side she. "Nothing was heard of him for weeks," the authorities explained.
The llamas that destroyed his cabin built in the Susitna Valley also claimed the life of his dog. Steele was completely alone, in an area without a human presence within a 20-mile radius, according to police.
During the fire, he managed to save some canned food and jars of peanut butter from a pantry that had not yet been destroyed by fire, as he told authorities. He said he had enough cans to survive 30 days, if he only ate two cans a day.
In the first two nights he took refuge in a cave in the snow to sleep. Once the flames went out, he built with tarpaulins and wood that found a structure similar to a shop over what was left of his cabin. In the following days, the snow around him accumulated until he reached five feet.
Finally, a friend alerted the police it had been weeks since they had talked to him for the last time. It was Thursday, January 9. The state security force launched a rescue operation and located it. In his account to the authorities, he said that he tried to spend a lot of time sleeping in his shelter and that marking an SOS symbol in the snow, using the ash to keep it visible, seemed "the best sign" he could give.
Now he plans to spend time in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his family.
A young man survives 30 hours in a snow cave in the middle of the storm
Just in that state, a 17-year-old starred in another survival story in extreme conditions that was concluded happily a few days before Steele's rescue.
Nicolas Stacy-Alcantara, of Fresno, California, was visiting Utah last week to see a former girlfriend, according to The Associated Press. On Thursday, January 2, on a day of relatively mild weather, he decided to take a hike in the mountains, he said.
But late in the afternoon it began to snow and the temperature dropped, forcing him to stop at the canyon where he was. His cell phone had run out of coverage .
With the feet that were beginning to freeze, he built a small snow cave under a tree to protect himself from the wind. He put an alarm on his cell phone to ring every 30 minutes and stay awake, and hit his hands against his chest to keep the blood flowing.
His ex-girlfriend and his mother called the police to see that he did not return for dinner, but due to the darkness, help did not come immediately. As the hours passed, he began to lose hope, said Stacy-Alcantara.
Nicolas Stacy-Alcantara, after his rescue. Credit: Jen Pilgreen / University of Utah Health via AP
The next day, already in the sunlight, he left the cave where he had hidden. Finally, he found other hikers, who had a satellite phone. It was about 6 miles from where they had left it, authorities said. It had been around 30 hours .
The young man was rescued and taken by helicopter to the University of Utah Hospital, where he received freeze treatment on his feet. You are not expected to need any amputation.
Bad weather also in other areas of the United States
The bad weather has not generated problems in this beginning of 2020 only in Utah and Alaska, but also in the southeastern United States, where at least seven people died during the passage of strong rain storms and winds that have fallen over the area As of last Friday. Three of them died in Alabama, three in Louisiana and one in Texas, according to authorities.
Heavy rains could cause flash flooding throughout the region over the weekend, according to forecasts. Parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were on Saturday under warning or alert of flash floods.
With information from NBC and The Associated Press.
See also: Miraculous rescue of two men trapped in the snow
