It started as normal Tuesday morning for two men on their way to work in the Canadian backcountry in northeastern British Columbia when they saw a man coming out of the wilderness.
They identified him as missing hiker Sam Benastick, who had been reported missing more than a month ago, on October 19, according to the Northern Rockies Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
He is said to have been found on the road to work, supporting himself with two sticks and a cut sleeping bag and wrapped his legs to keep warm.
Benastick was reported missing after failing to return home on October 17 from a 10-day camping trip in Redfern-Keily Park, CNN affiliate CBC News reports.
Benastick told police that he first stayed in his car for several days before walking to a river near the mountain, where he camped for another 10 to 15 days.
He then went down the valley and built a shelter on a dry riverbed, RCMP said. From there Benastick made his way to where he found two workers.
KSAR sent a team out of the province to assist in the search of the Kamloops area. – From Kamloops Search and Rescue
The men took Benastick to a local hospital, where police helped him confirm his identity, RCMP said.
“Finding Sam alive is a very good result. After all the time he was gone, it was feared that this would not be the result,” said Cpl Madonna Saunderson, BC RCMP Communications.
His parents and brother stayed at the Buffalo Inn in Pink Mountain, British Columbia, for more than 20 days while searching for their son, the inn’s general manager, Mike Reid, told CNN. Reid, who had developed a relationship with the family, said he gave them free food during their stay at his home.
“I have three children and five grandchildren. So I know what they are facing,” he said.
Reid continued to communicate with the family who were reunited at the hospital with Benastick. They told him that their son almost fell when he was found by two workers on the road and was leaning on two poles because he was “weak.”
“He was in bad shape but he’s alive,” Reid told CNN.
According to the RCMP multiple search and rescue teams have been searching for him along with the Canadian Rangers and “many local volunteers who have extensive knowledge of the area.”
Benastick’s uncle, Al Benastick, described his grandson as an outdoorsman who suffered from “cold and smoke inhalation” in an interview with CBC News.
It was “unbelievable” his grandson survived, he said. “Imagine being out there, that cold, for that long.”
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