Missing B.C. Man Found Alive After Nine Days in Wilderness

A British Columbia man missing for more than a week has been rescued after scrawling “HELP” on a rock and marking “SOS” in the mud to alert searchers.

Andrew Barber, 39, was found on August 8 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) after a helicopter spotted his truck abandoned on a remote forest road near McLeese Lake, about 587 km north of Vancouver. He had been reported missing on July 31 when his vehicle broke down in the rugged terrain.

Police say Barber was severely dehydrated and had a leg injury but managed to survive by building a crude shelter from mud and sticks, drinking pond water, and eating whatever he could find.

“He was literally slurping unclean pond water to stay hydrated,” said Staff Sgt. Brad McKinnon of the Williams Lake RCMP. “The human body can go a long time without food, but water is a different situation.”

Quesnel Search & Rescue credited “countless hours on the ground and in the air” with bringing Barber home alive. Bob Zimmerman, the group’s president, said the rescue came just in time. “I’m not sure he would have made it another 24 hours,” he told CBC News.

Barber was taken to hospital for treatment and has since been released.