How One Man Survived Days ‘Soaked and Frozen’ in Remote Mountains

An adventurer was rescued after nearly a week stranded in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, The Associated Press reported, and he credited his survival to a small kitten named Peach.

Ukrainian native Vladislav Duda, 28, was discovered by rescuers deep inside a 437-foot-deep crevice in the northern Maramures region. When found, Duda was “soaked and frozen,” suffering from severe hypothermia and malnutrition, having run out of food four days earlier and subsisting only on melted snow since then. But he had only one thought on his mind: that of the small furry companion zipped into his jacket.

Duda, a journalist, had fled Ukraine with Peach to avoid being drafted into the country’s ongoing war against Russia. He and Peach, who is less than a year old, spent a week hiking through the mountains seeking sanctuary before they became lost and eventually trapped in the ravine.

It took dozens of rescuers five hours to extract Duda. When they unzipped his coat, they found Peach nestled between his owner's stomach and the jacket’s lining. "The cat was warm and was warming him…so he saved his life," explained Dan Benga, the director of the Maramures mountain rescue service. "The only thing we saw he is caring about is the cat. He doesn't care about himself." 

Benga recalled Duda telling rescuers: "I'm happy because my cat is alive. I got a chance from God for a new life. The happiest moment is because the cat is here with me.”

Duda agreed that Peach was indisputably the reason for his survival. "What I remember is the fear of the unknown and the fear of not making it through the night alive," he recalled. "My Peach kept me alive. When escaping we were afraid of everybody, not to be sent back to fight in a war that is not ours.”

Duda is receiving anti-inflammatory medication and blood circulation therapy to treat his hypothermia, while Peach received a full veterinary workup on Dec. 9. A local community center for Ukrainian refugees is overseeing the duo’s recovery.

from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/iF9oywP