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| Officials wheel in two of the children after a group of six people arrive at Pershing General Hospital after being lost for two days in the frigid mountains near Lovelock, Nev., Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013. |
RENO, Nev.
(AP) -- A desperate search for a couple and four children missing for
two days in the below-zero cold of Nevada's rugged mountains turned
jubilant Tuesday when rescuers guided in part by cellphone signals and
footprints in the snow found them alive and well near their overturned
Jeep.
About 200 people had searched by land
and air after the group of six failed to return Sunday from a trip to
play in the snow near their hometown of Lovelock, in Nevada's high
desert.
"They stayed together and that was the
key that allowed them to live through this experience. You don't see
that that often in search and rescue," said Paul Burke,
search-and-rescue coordinator for the state. "They did some pretty
unusual things, heating up rocks and things. Staying together, that was a
big deal."
Their Jeep had overturned just off
a road. A member of the rescue team said the engine would no longer
start, but the group stayed in the upside-down vehicle for shelter,
burning the spare tire to keep warm.
The six
were taken to Pershing General Hospital, where about 100 well-wishers
lined the street and broke into cheers when two of the smallest children
were taken from an ambulance. Others walked into the hospital on their
own.
"The mood where I'm at's ecstatic," said
Col. Tim Hahn of the Civil Air Patrol, which used several planes to
search for the group. "We are thrilled beyond words."
Rescuers
began scouring the Seven Troughs Area wilderness on Sunday night for
James Glanton, 34; his girlfriend, Christina McIntee, 25; their two
children, Evan and Chloe Glanton; and Shelby Fitzpatrick and Tate
McIntee, a niece and nephew of McIntee's. The children range in age from
3 to 10.
The situation grew more dire as overnight temperatures in Lovelock dipped to 16 below zero.
A
cellphone forensics team analyzed which towers the group's phone was in
contact with during their trip, giving searchers a better idea of where
they might be, Hahn said. They were so far out in the wilderness that
they apparently were unable to call for help.
Search
volunteer Chris Montes said he and two rescuers with him first spotted
children's footprints in the snow, then followed a set of Jeep tracks
until they found the flipped vehicle and the family beside it.
"They just said that they knew somebody was going to find them," Montes said.
The discovery prompted a wave of relief on social media.
"Very
glad to hear the missing family in Lovelock has been found and they are
safe!" Gov. Brian Sandoval tweeted. "Thank you to all who worked so
tirelessly to find them!"
The Seven Troughs
area is named for seven parallel canyons below Seven Trough Peak,
elevation 7,474 feet. It is about 20 miles southeast of Black Rock
Desert, where the annual Burning Man counterculture festival is held.
Most of the roads are dirt and more easily traveled by ATVs or other off-road vehicles.
Seven Troughs is a popular area for hunting chukars, a pheasant-size winter game bird.
"So
it's not the kind of area where there would be nobody around," Nevada
Department of Wildlife spokesman Chris Healy said. "But most chukar
hunters are smart enough not to go out in the weather we have now."
