‘Can’t believe she survived’: Woman missing in wilderness found thanks to train passenger

A train passenger helps find a woman who had been missing for two days and was injured on a hike.

On Oct. 10 in Durango, Colorado, the woman was looking out the window when she spotted a hiker. Called the train employee.

This American from New Mexico went missing after starting her hike on the Colorado Trail. She left the trail to go to the banks of the Animas River, where she fell and broke her leg.

The injured woman spent two nights in nature.

“It’s amazing she survived. She had no food, little water and no survival equipment,” said DeAnne Gallegos, spokeswoman for the San Juan County Office of Emergency Management.

After her second night, she found a vantage point on the American shore and waved to a passing train.

Two employees working on the train stayed with the hiker until the rescue team arrived across the river.

The rescue operation was complicated: a search and rescue team was brought in with the help of a helicopter. She then used ropes to pull the injured woman across the river. Later, the patient was taken to a nearby hospital in a helicopter.