Posted by
Levi on Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:36:24 PM
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- An autistic
18-year-old lost in the wilderness for four days was found alive
Thursday, weak but apparently fine, and reunited with his family,
searchers said.
"To the best of our knowledge, he was just
hungry and thirsty and fatigued," said Jim Reneau, one of the nine
searchers who found Jacob Allen.
Reneau spoke at a news conference at the command post near Davis, about 90 miles south of Pittsburgh.
Allen,
who wandered away from his parents while hiking Sunday, was found lying
in a clearing about a mile from where his hat was found Monday.
The
teen, who has the mental capacity of a 3- or 4-year-old, opened his
eyes and rolled over to meet his rescuers when Reneau's son, Jeremy
Reneau, called out his name.
"He was very quiet, he was
nonverbal," said Jeremy Reneau, 25, the first to spot Allen. "But you
could tell by his body language he was hungry."
Rescuers fed him
candy bars and peanut butter sandwiches and tried to walk him out of
the wooded Dolly Sods Wilderness Area, part of the Monongahela National
Forest.
When he became too tired, they carried him out on a litter, Reneau said.
"The
family is all together," search group spokesman Chris Stadelman said.
"As soon as they heard the report he was alive and doing fairly well,
they gathered in a prayer circle."
The Inter-Mountain newspaper
reported that Allen was taken to Davis Memorial Hospital, but a
spokeswoman for the hospital declined to comment.
"I think the
whole state's relieved," said Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe
Manchin, who visited the Allen family Wednesday night. "We're all
relieved for him and his family."
Allen wandered away from his
parents Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of volunteers and trained
professionals had been combing the woods, calling for him to come to
them for candy bars, ice cream and other food.
Allen had no food
or water with him, but Stadelman had said there were natural water
sources in the search area, which consists of about 10 square miles of
often steep and brush-covered terrain.
Overnight temperatures
dropped to as low as 38 degrees on the nights Allen was missing. He was
wearing hiking boots, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a wind jacket and wind
pants.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.
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