Backroad drive turns into harrowing week-long ordeal for stranded B.C. couple | Globalnews.ca
A couple on Vancouver Island are speaking out about what was supposed to be a short drive while some baking cooled down at home but turned into a week-long fight for survival.
Ken and Linda Biggs set off in their truck from Port McNeill for a three-hour drive on some back roads in the area.
They stopped at Bonanza Lake where they hoped to see some elk, but that’s when their truck broke down.
“I get back into the truck and Ken puts it in reverse and there was a humongous loud KLONK and I looked at him ‘What did you hit?’ and he said ‘Nothing,’” Linda told Global News.
The Biggs had a few apples and oranges to eat and a few treats for their dog but no other food and none of their medications.
The couple managed to find a cabin nearby.
“I see there is some wood, there is a fireplace,” Linda said. “Set of bunk beds… There’s a little kitchen sink.”
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Miraculously there were also some preserves in the cupboard
With no cell service and batteries that were long dead, the couple had no choice but to hunker down. They rationed their food and spent the days drawing and trying to keep themselves occupied.
However, the nights were so cold in the cabin they had to sleep in their nearby truck.
“I’d wake up so cold, that everything chattered,” Linda said. “I had never ever been that cold.”
She admits there were many times they were losing hope.
“I was actually at the point that (thought) I wasn’t going to be found,” Linda said, wiping away tears.
“I would die here.”
Meanwhile, their daughter had popped by their home and found food left out in the kitchen.
She rallied the community and circulated the news on social media.
Concerned members of the community started searching and Linda said one day she heard horns outside the cabin.
“There’s my big son,” Linda said. “And he literally picked up his dad and hugged him.
“What a relief.”
The couple were relatively unscathed and forever grateful that they and the Port McNeill community did not give up hope.
They also plan to replace the food they ate in the cabin.
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