An Andes man ate rats and leftover supplies for survival after he has gone missing for four months in trying to cross the Andes mountains from Chile to Argentina, BBC reported Monday.
According to officials, the Andes man - later identified as Raul Fernando Gomez Circunegui of Uruguay - got lost due to the heavy snowstorms and because his motorbike broke down during his attempt.
Reports confirmed that Argentine officials found the Andes man alive in a mountain shelter at an altitude of over 2,800m in the Los Pator Sur valley, adding that he survived throughout his four months of being missing because he ate leftover supplies found in the shelter and anything else that he could catch including rats.
"It's a miracle," San Juan Governor Jose Luis Gioja said. "I still cannot believe it. He came here and spoke by phone with his wife, his mother and daughter. He was very excited, though exhausted."
The Andes man was rushed to a hospital due to his dehydrated and emaciated condition; however, Rawson Hospital chief of operations Victor Olmos confirmed that Gomez is expected to make a full recovery right away.
Yahoo! reported that Argentine officials from the north-western province of San Juan found the Andes man when they arrived near the shelter by helicopter to record snow levels on that altitude.
Media reports stated that Gomez has lost 20kg (44lb) because of the ordeal, but the doctor who examined his condition was surprised by his resilience, Uruguayan newspaper El Pais reported.
"He's a patient with high blood pressure, a history of smoking and signs of undernourishment," his doctor said as quoted by the newspaper. "But he's going to be fine and in a few days we're going to discharge him."
Meanwhile, a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team to Chile crashed in the Andes in 1972. Reports circulated that 16 out of the 45 passengers survived the sub-zero Andean temperatures for 72 days by feeding on the bodies of other victims of the plane crash.
The rugby team was travelling from Montevideo to Santiago for a game against a local team when their plane crashed in the Andes.
BBC reported that the survivors of the crash were located after two of them managed to leave the site for a 10-day trek; a farmer found the two later on and hurriedly alerted the emergency services.
Yahoo! added that the ordeal of the plane crash was the inspiration behind the 1993 feature film 'Alive.'
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