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The 15 Greatest Survival Stories of 2018

A Thai soccer team, a lost 5-month-old baby, nearly 2 months at sea, and twelve other stories that riveted us this year.

By Alice Oglethorpe
Geological phenomenon, Vehicle, Car, Rock, Off-roading, Geology, Off-road vehicle, Mountain, Mountain pass, Quarry, pinterest
Angela Hernandez, Facebook

2018 has been a year full of good news and bad. Throughout it all, there were great stories of survival—of people beating odds and killing rattlesnakes with rocks while they waited for rescue. Here are fifteen of our favorites.

Trapped in a Cave

FBL-ENG-PR-MAN UTD-EVERTON
PAUL ELLIS//Getty Images

Thailand’s Wild Boars soccer team—a dozen 11 to 16 year olds and their coach—celebrated the birthday of a teammate by exploring Tham Luang Cave. Then the water rushed in. When a rainstorm caused flash floods, the team found themselves stranded deep in the cave, a mile underground. It took the efforts of 2,000 soldiers and 200 divers to get the entire group out. It wasn’t without tragedy—one retired Thai Navy SEAL died and others were hospitalized—but the world watched and celebrated as the team was brought to safety.

Buried Under a Collapsed Building

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Wikimedia Commons

When an earthquake hit Indonesia in August, it destroyed thousands of buildings, including the Jabar Nul mosque where Narto Aryadi was praying with his brother-in-law. Finding himself under a fallen column, but not pinned, Narto grabbed chunks of debris and dug through the sand under the mosque’s floor for 12 hours until he was safe—pulling his brother-in-law behind him the whole way.

Stranded in the Himalayas

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Ahmed Sajjad Zaidi, Flickr

Summitting Nanga Parbat, a 26,660-foot peak in the Himalayas, is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it’s even more dangerous in the middle of winter. That’s what two climbers, Elisabeth Revol and Tomasz Mackiewicz, discovered in January. When Mackiewicz started experiencing acute mountain sickness, the two found themselves stranded 24,000 feet up. Nearby helicopters couldn’t fly that high, so a team of Polish climbers had to go after them. They were too late to rescue Mackiewicz, but they reached Revol in time, and brought her back down safely.

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Lost in the Woods—as a Baby

Missoula, Montana, United States -
Francois LE DIASCORN//Getty Images

After six hours of combing the Montana woods for a five-month-old baby, sheriff’s deputy Ross Jessop was about to give up hope. It was cold, the middle of the night, and he had no idea where the baby might be—just that a man they’d arrested said he’d gotten in an accident and abandoned a baby somewhere in that area. Then he heard a little cry, pushed aside some sticks and debris, and found exactly who he was looking for: A hungry but still very-much-alive infant.

Lost in the Outback—as a Great Grandma

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Wikimedia Commons

A family headed to Australia’s Stirling Range National Park to help maintain the walking tracks there. But then Patricia Byrne, the 84-year-old great grandmother in the family, lost sight of her relatives. She spent three days in the remote bush—dealing with temperatures close to 100 degrees without food or water—before she was found. She was in good spirits, though, soon making jokes about how long it took her family to notice she was missing.

Devastated by Wildfire

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Wikimedia Commons

As the Camp Fire raced towards the town of Paradise, California—moving almost seven miles in 90 minutes—not all of the 26,000 residents were able to follow the evacuation plan. But among the devastation—the blaze destroyed thousands of buildings including the home of iconic guitar builder Wayne Charvel—there were many great stories of survival. Strangers drove hours-old babies to safety, neighbors ran to nearby homes to alert as many people as possible, and parents ditched cars stuck in traffic, grabbed their children, and ran as fast as they could to shelter.

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Crashed at the Bottom of a 200-foot Cliff

Geological phenomenon, Vehicle, Car, Rock, Off-roading, Geology, Off-road vehicle, Mountain, Mountain pass, Quarry,
Angela Hernandez, Facebook

The remote beaches in Big Sur California are not the best place to go missing, but that’s where Angela Hernandez found herself after swerving to avoid an animal, driving off a cliff, and crashing 200 feet below on the beach. A couple camping in Big Sur were looking for a great fishing spot but instead found Hernandez, who had been stranded for a week. She was injured, but would survive.

Surrounded by Snakes at the Bottom of a Mine Shaft

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Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

An experienced miner, 62-year-old John Waddell took safety precautions before lowering himself down an Arizona mine shaft. But he was unable to control his descent. He fell 100 feet below the mine entrance and broke multiple bones. He remained there for three days—killing three rattlesnakes who got too close—before a worried friend found him.

Attacked by a Grizzly Bear

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Raymond Boyd//Getty Images

Amber Kornak knew the danger in surprising a grizzly bear, so the researcher frequently clapped and blew a whistle as she collected bear hair samples in Montana’s Cabinet Mountains in May. But the sound of rain, wind, and a creek drowned out her noises and she found herself a little too close to a grizzly. The spooked bear attacked. Although Kornak fought it off with bear spray, before the bear ran back into the woods, it bit her head. She walked two miles back to her truck with a sweatshirt wrapped around her fractured skull to stop the bleeding, then drove herself to find help.

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Alone in the Middle of the Adriatic Sea

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There’s some mystery surrounding how Kay Longstaff ended up off the Norwegian Star cruise ship and into the Adriatic Sea. But regardless of whether she fell or jumped, she was forced to tread water for 10 hours overnight before being rescued by the Croatian Coast Guard. She’d floated almost a mile from where she went in.

Lost for Six Days on Mount St. Helens

Columbia River Gorge
John Gress//Getty Images

Matthew Matheny was just going to go on a short hike on Mount St. Helens, but he wasn’t too familiar with the area, lost the trail, and fell down a steep hill. It took helicopters, 30 rescuers, dogs, and a drone six days of searching before they ultimately found him. A former boy scout, he stayed alive by eating berries and, amazingly, bees.

Trapped in an Abandoned Mine for Five Days

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Wikimedia Commons

It’s not uncommon to hear about people sneaking into abandoned mines in West Virginia to steal copper, but it doesn’t usually make the news. That changed when four unlucky people went into a mine in December and became trapped. Rescuers had to deal with a winter storm and not knowing where exactly the stuck people were, but things changed once one of the miners found his way out and could direct rescuers to the other three, who were rescued after five days.

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Capsized on a Ferry

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CASMIR ODUOR//Getty Images

It was one of the saddest stories of the year: A ferry capsized in Tanzania and more than 200 people died. But after rescuers gave up hope of finding anyone alive, they heard sounds coming from inside the sunken ship. It turns out the ship’s engineer, Alphonce Charahani, survived for two days inside a pocket of air trapped in the ferry’s engine room.

Adrift at Sea for Two Months

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While Aldi Novel Adilang’s job taking care of a fishing hut in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was usually pretty boring (he’d light lamps at night to attract fish), that changed when the line anchoring the hut snapped and sent it floating away. He stayed alive for 49 days, eating fish, and drifting thousands of miles, before a freighter spotted him.

An Accidental Climb up the Side of a Skyscraper

Raccoon or racoon, Adulte , (Procyon lotor), Minnesota, United States
Sylvain CORDIER//Getty Images

It may not have been the most dramatic rescue of the year, but it was one of the most sensational. A raccoon started climbing the UBS Plaza building in St. Paul, Minnesota and quickly found itself 10, then 15, then 20 floors high. The world was captivated—and concerned that the raccoon would fall or get stuck. After some naps on high-up ledges, the raccoon ultimately found its way to the roof, where a it was lured into a trap with cat food and was brought back down to ground level…using the elevator.

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