survival

Read the latest true stories of survival on Newser.com

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Girl, 11, Survives 3 Days at Sea in Inner Tubes

Child from Sierra Leone appears to be only survivor from migrant boat that sank off coast of Italy

(Newser) - Shortly after 3am on Wednesday, the crew of the Trotamar III, a vessel used by the refugee charity Compass Collective, heard a child's cries in the dark. They found an 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone floating in the water, clinging to two tire inner tubes—the only apparent survivor...

Runner Lost for a Month in Park Ate 'Nasty' Berries

Robert Schock's mom never gave up hope he'd be found in Washington state park—and he was

(Newser) - A man lost in the wilderness of Washington state for a month was rescued at the end of August clinging to life. Now, Robert Schock is talking about his ordeal, noting to People : "Never did I dream that this kind of survival could ever even be possible."
  • Lost:
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Lost Hiker Thanks Reality TV, Gloria Gaynor Song for Survival
She Survived Days in Colorado
Wild Thanks to Reality TV
in case you missed it
Sep 21, 2024 6:00 AM CDT

She Survived Days in Colorado Wild Thanks to Reality TV

Gina Chase built shelter, filtered water after seeing people do it on television

(Newser) - Who says watching reality television is a waste of time? Not Keeping Up With the Kardashians—think Alive and Naked and Afraid, two of the programs that Gina Chase now credits for helping to keep her alive. The 53-year-old Canadian went missing for nearly four days during a spiritual retreat...

This Slippery Eel Can Escape Predator's Stomach in a Minute
This Eel Can Pull Off
an 'Astonishing' Houdini
NEW STUDY
Sep 10, 2024 1:28 PM CDT

This Eel Can Pull Off an 'Astonishing' Houdini

Japanese eels can escape from a predator's stomach in less than a minute, researchers say

(Newser) - That eels are slippery is no surprise, but that they can literally slip out of a predator's stomach is "truly astonishing," according to researchers, who've recorded footage of the first-of-its-kind behavior, allowing for escape in less than a minute. "It sounds like the plot of...

Mauled by Black Bear, Woman Says, 'I Thought I'd Die'

Pennsylvania's Lee Ann Galante barely escaped, along with her Pomeranian

(Newser) - "She was very, very powerful. And very, very angry." That's how Lee Ann Galante describes the black bear she battled in a fight to save herself and her 8-pound Pomeranian. The dental hygienist from Pennsylvania's Butler Township had put the dog, Smokie, outside around 8:30pm...

Hiker Might've Died in Texas Desert if Not for '3 Miracles'
'3 Miracles' Saved
This Texas Hiker
Nov 15, 2023 9:45 AM CST

'3 Miracles' Saved This Texas Hiker

Jeff Hahn tells 'Texas Highways' of survival amid intense, often deadly heat

(Newser) - A Texas man who spent 27 hours lost in the desert says he survived thanks to rescuers and "three miracles" that occurred before he met them. As Jeff Hahn tells Texas Highways via the Guardian , he was hiking with his adult daughter at Big Bend Ranch State Park in...

Man Survives 5 Days in Ravine After Crash

68-year-old Californian suffered broken back in crash

(Newser) - A great-grandfather in California is lucky to be alive after his truck fell 100 feet into a ravine, leaving him stranded and too injured to move. Calvin Smith, 68, was spotted by dirt bikers in Kern County on Saturday, five days after his truck went over the side of a...

After 46K Years, Possibly Extinct Worm Awoke, Reproduced
Worm Took
46K-Year Nap,
Then Woke Up
and Got Busy
NEW STUDY
Jul 28, 2023 4:05 PM CDT

Worm Took 46K-Year Nap, Then Woke Up and Got Busy

It's the longest recorded period of cryptobiosis in nematodes by far

(Newser) - Scientists have revived a possibly extinct microscopic worm that survived in Siberian permafrost for nearly 50,000 years. Nematodes, better known as roundworms, were found inside a fossilized squirrel burrow some 130 feet underground near Siberia's Kolyma River in 2002, per the Wall Street Journal . Scientists successfully resuscitated the...

Mom Briefly Survived Crash That Stranded 4 Kids in Amazon

Children apparently reported their mother was alive for the first 4 days or so

(Newser) - More details of the 40 days that four indigenous children survived in the Amazon jungle are coming out, and one is particularly heartbreaking. After their single-engine propeller plane plane crashed in Colombia on May 1, the children's mother survived for about four days. That's according to the father...

Stranded for 5 Days, She Survived on Bottle of Wine, Lollipops

Teetotaler had to drink the bottle meant for mom to survive

(Newser) - "The only liquid Lillian, who doesn't drink, had with her was a bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother, so that got her through," says Australia's Wodonga Police Station Sgt. Martin Torpey. As the BBC reports, so describes the tale of...

Search Pilot Thought He Saw a Rock. Then an Arm Waved

Jerry Jouret, 81, survived being stuck 6 days in a California snowbank, eating biscotti and candy

(Newser) - Don't ever think you can outdrive an imminent snowstorm. That's the lesson learned by one elderly man whose car ride—meant to last just a few hours—ended up stranding him in a snowbank for almost a week. CNN reports that 81-year-old Jerry Jouret left his mountain getaway...

Cruise Passenger Found in Gulf Was Seconds From Death

'The survivor had about 30 seconds to a minute left'

(Newser) - One of the US Coast Guard officers who helped rescue the Carnival cruise ship passenger who went overboard last Wednesday night says the 28-year-old was moments from death when he was pulled from the water. Richard Hoefle tells CBS News he estimates "the survivor had about 30 seconds to...

Man Who Lost Glasses in Quake Found 17 Days Later

China's Gan Yu 'said he would have died' in mountains, where he became lost: reports

(Newser) - Gan Yu was working at a hydropower plant when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck China's Sichuan province earlier this month. Rather than flee, he stayed at his post, "saving villages downstream from being flooded," according to state news agency Xinhua . His eventual escape, it turns out,...

Gator Took His Arm, Then He Got Lost for 3 Days

Eric Merda of Florida lived to tell the tale

(Newser) - It's one thing to get lost in a Florida swamp for three days before finding your way out. It's another for that to happen after an alligator has bitten your arm off. All of the above happened to 43-year-old Eric Merda of Sarasota, reports the Herald-Tribune . In July,...

Man Survives 11 Days at Sea in Floating Freezer: Report

'It was a miracle,' says Brazilian fisherman Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues

(Newser) - After his boat sank, a Brazilian fisherman reportedly survived 11 days in the shark-infested Atlantic Ocean by taking refuge inside a floating freezer. Romualdo Macedo Rodrigues departed on what was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip in early August. But off the coast of northern Brazil, his 23-foot-long wooden...

After Capsizing, Sailor's Survival 'Verged on the Impossible'

He managed to make it the 16 hours until he was rescued

(Newser) - A French sailor was rescued in the rough Atlantic on Tuesday after spending 16 hours in his capsized sailboat. The 62-year-old, who'd set sail on his 40-foot vessel from Lisbon on Sunday morning, was 14 miles from the Sisargas Islands off Spain's northwestern Galicia region when he sent...

They Survived an Avalanche, Then Had to Survive the Night

2 climbers in New Zealand's Remarkables mountain range built a snow cave

(Newser) - Two climbers were caught in an avalanche on a mountain in New Zealand—and that was just the start of their troubles. The 20-something males were finishing up a three-day climbing adventure in the Remarkables mountain range when they awoke Tuesday to find their tent buried in fresh snow, per...

Man Survives 18 Hours in Sea Thanks to Lost Toy

Half-inflated ball kept North Macedonia man afloat in Aegean Sea

(Newser) - A North Macedonia man who was swept out to sea off the Greek island of Kassandra managed to survive for 18 hours by clinging to a small inflatable ball that happened to float toward him. The vacationer identified only as Ivan and a friend were declared missing at sea after...

Did Hibernation Help Save a Hiker Stranded 24 Days?

CNET delves into the mystery of Mitsutaka Uchikoshi's survival

(Newser) - "What really happened to Mitsutaka Uchikoshi on that mountain in 2006?" It's a question that set Jackson Ryan off on a quest for answers in 2019. As he writes in a lengthy piece for CNET , Ryan has been transfixed by the "why" of Uchikoshi's survival since...

He Was Sailing Alone at 77. Things Went Wrong
'It's the Panic
That Kills You.'
So He Didn't Panic
in case you missed it
Feb 27, 2022 7:25 AM CST

'It's the Panic That Kills You.' So He Didn't Panic

Don Cavers, 77, had quite the ordeal in the Caribbean Sea

(Newser) - Things went from bad to worse to oh-no for a 77-year-old man in the Caribbean Sea in December. But "it's the panic that kills you," says Canadian Don Cavers, and he managed not to panic. Cavers had flown to Colombia the month prior to buy a sailboat,...

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