A French cyclist who crashed down a ravine in a remote region wasn't rescued for three days and survived on the bottles of red wine he had just bought in the shop.
The pensioner, aged 77 years, had gone to the shops on his bike to buy the bottles of wine. But as he returned home, in Saint-Julien-des-Points, southern France, he missed a bend on a descent and crashed down the ravine.
Luckily he had the red wine and the bottles survived the crash so he was able to nourish himself for three days before he was rescued, though it still must have been a serious ordeal.
He was stranded at a spot on the Gardon River and though he shouted out for help every time a car was passing, nobody heard his shouts in the remote mountainous region.
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However, a crew of maintenance workers carrying out road repairs eventually heard his shouts. They raised the alarm and the man was rescued last Tuesday having only suffered minor injuries and mild hypothermia.
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When paramedics arrived in an ambulance to rescue him, they were unable to reach him and so a medical helicopter was called in and was able to land at the river bank and tend to the man.
His bike was smashed up and he was unable to crawl up the steep incline of the ravine and back up to the road after the crash happened.
The local chief medical officer, Laurent Savath, said the elderly man was doing well despite his ordeal and being trapped in the open for three days and nights after a heavy fall.
“He is safe and sound,” Mr Savath told French newspaper Le Lozere Nouvelle. “Nevertheless, after such a mishap, he was airlifted to the Ales Hospital Centre for a medical examination."
He added the man's survival was “a miracle ... given the cold and the rain, with almost nothing to eat or drink” apart from the bottles of wine he had just bought at the supermarket before he crashed.
“He is really tough … he fell into a stream several times trying to scramble back up, so was at risk of hypothermia,” he added.
