Woman Found Alive After 6 Days in Woods

She had no food, little water
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 14, 2014 8:44 AM CST
Woman Found Alive After 6 Days in Woods
   (Shutterstock)

Police have—to their surprise—found a 52-year-old Oregon woman alive yesterday, almost a week after she'd disappeared. Police had been looking for Sharon Ruth Bates since Saturday. After getting a tip from her sister that she liked to climb Mount David, they searched the area, and found her trapped in the crater of an old well, the Cottage Grove Sentinel reports. She'd survived there without food, and despite last week's snowstorm.

Bates had gone into the woods last Friday for some alone time and got stuck in the pit after finding herself unable to climb out due to the slippery conditions. She used a plastic bag to collect drinking water, but was growing steadily weaker. "Truth is, I didn't expect to find her alive," a police corporal tells ABC 9. "It makes me happy." Bates is currently recovering in the hospital. (Click to read about another hiker saved from snowy conditions ... in Hawaii.)

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