Star Tribune reported on September 4 that a man in Minnesota, USA, was rescued after more than 4 days stuck due to a fallen tree.
The Redwood District Police Department said that on August 27, Jonathan Ceplecha was cutting down an oak tree with a saws near his home when the accident suddenly occurred.
Mr. Ceplecha was found with both legs crushed on August 31 and was rescued from a mountain crevice about 91 meters from his home. The victim was conscious and taken to the hospital after rescue forces took him about 2 hours to rescue him.
My father has prepared for every situation but is determined to stay alive, said Emma Ceplecha, the victims daughter. For the family and rescue team, the incident to Mr. Ceplecha is a testament to the extraordinary strength and will of the 59-year-old man.
9 out of 10 times we received calls reporting a missing person for such a long period of time, that person did not survive. You have to have an extremely strong mentality to survive that situation, said Mark Farasyn, representative of the Redwood County Sheriff's Office. When asked how long he had been stuck there, Mr. Ceplecha replied "100 hours" without hesitation.
After being crushed, with his hip pressed against the base of the tree, Mr. Ceplecha was able to move his arm and twist to sit up, but his left leg was broken and his right foot was crushed. The situation became more difficult when he lived alone and his nearest neighbor was more than 1.6 km away. His efforts to call for help were fading away.
To survive, Mr. Ceplecha divided each day into hours and each hour into five-minute segments. He prayed and meditated to distract himself from panic and create his own rhythms to follow from dawn to sunset. Amidst constant physical pain, he often imagines himself talking to his children.
In addition, veterans who lived in Iraq also rely on the survival skills accumulated from the army. He ate plants and insects within reach, drank sweat and rainwater. At night, he covers his head to avoid mosquitoes and other insects.
As he was stuck until the 4th day, Emma suspected something was wrong with her father missing their weekly call every Sunday. His colleagues at the regional Marshall education and technical center also found it strange that he did not participate in the e-mail exchange on the weekend. They reported to the police when he was not at work on August 31.
After the rare accident, Mr. Ceplecha is recovering after undergoing surgery twice, but doctors monitoring the infection in his feet show that he may need more surgery.
My father may lose part of his right leg, his daughter said, adding that her father still has a long way to go to fully recover.
