Uruguayan found alive after four months lost in the Andes
Raúl Fernando Gómez Circunegui reported to have eaten rats and raisins to survive after trying to cross mountains on foot
Reuters in Buenos Aires
Monday 9 September 2013 00.46 BST
Raúl Fernando Gómez Circunegui at the Rawson hospital in San Juan province, Argentina. Photograph: San Juan provincial government
A 58-year-old Uruguayan man who disappeared four months ago in the remote Andes mountains was found alive on Sunday, after he spent a brutal winter eating rats and raisins to survive, local media reported.
Raúl Fernando Gómez Circunegui reportedly got lost in May. He was trying to cross the mountains from Chile to Argentina on foot because his motorcycle broke down.
Argentinian officials from the north-western province of San Juan stumbled upon Gómez in a shelter 2,840 metres (9,318 feet) above sea level when they travelled there to record snow levels.
"The truth is that this is a miracle. We still can't believe it," San Juan governor Jose Luis Gioja told the local Diario de Cuyo newspaper. "We let him talk to his wife, his mother and his daughter … I asked him: 'Are you a believer?' He told me, 'no, but now I am.'"
Sugar, raisins, rats and the shelter's leftover supplies kept Gómez alive through the southern hemisphere's winter. He lost 20kgs (44 pounds) during the ordeal and is dehydrated. He is receiving medical attention, according to media reports.
Photos of an emaciated, bearded Gómez resting on a bed were splashed on the websites of Argentinian newspapers Clarín and La Nación.
A doctor who examined Gómez was surprised by the man's resilience, according to Uruguayan newspaper El País.
"He's a patient with high blood pressure, a history of smoking and signs of undernourishment," the doctor was quoted as saying. "He's going to be fine and in a few days we're going to discharge him."
In 1972, a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team to Chile crashed in the Andes. Some of the survivors sustained themselves by eating dead bodies.
