Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

After 4 days in wilderness, a Boy Scout is found safe

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 21, 2007

McGRADY, N.C. - A 12-year-old Boy Scout whose favorite book was about a youngster lost in the wilderness now has his own harrowing survival tale to tell after rescuers found him Tuesday, dehydrated and disoriented from four days in the wooded mountains of North Carolina.

A rescue dog picked up Michael Auberry's scent less than a mile from the campsite where he had wandered away from his troop Saturday. The boy's father speculated that the boy was simply homesick and wanted to hitchhike home.

The disappearance touched off an intensive search involving bloodhounds, heat-seeking helicopters and dozens of volunteers on foot.

"He saw the helicopters and heard people calling him, but he yelled back and they didn't hear him," said his father, Kent Auberry, of Greensboro. "He's very tired. He's very dehydrated. But he came through this in unbelievable fashion."

With tears in his eyes, Auberry added: "To have our son back is a tremendous blessing."

It was not clear how the boy was able to survive or whether he put any of his Scout wilderness training to use. A few hours after an emotional reunion, Kent Auberry said he still didn't know much about his son's ordeal, mostly because he decided not to ask too many questions.

"What he tells us is he was on the move," Auberry said. "He slept in tree branches. He curled up under rocks."

Michael had worn two jackets, one of them fleece, and was believed to have a mess kit and potato chips with him when he disappeared. He told the rescue team he had been drinking water from streams, and lost his hat and glasses in the woods.

Searchers spotted Michael walking along a stream Tuesday.

Hours earlier, the boy's father had talked about one of Michael's favorite books when he was younger, Hatchet, a story about a boy whose plane crashes in the wilderness, and how the boy survives on his own.

[Last modified March 21, 2007, 02:09:21]