Photo: rtbf.be
One woman from Belgium crashed her car into a ditch and became trapped in the wreck. It would take 6 full days until a rescue party tracked her down, and she was able to survive the latest European heatwave.
Bastide tells local publication RTBF that she was traveling through Liege, Belgium, when she lost control of her car and ended up in a ditch in remote woodland. She suffered some spinal injuries in the crash, so she couldn’t move, which meant she had to bring out the survivor in her until authorities got to her.
It would be 6 long and very hot days until that happened. From her hospital bed, Bastide recalls hearing her phone ring like crazy on the first day: family and friends were worried about her and kept calling her to see if she was ok. She couldn’t reach the phone, so their calls went unanswered. The next day, the battery died, and all was silent.
At about the same time, Bastide realized she would have to do something so she wouldn’t die of heat exposure. As temperatures soared well past 105 degrees, she was able to open the door of the car with her foot and extend an arm holding a chewing gum box. When the heatwave broke and the rains came, she collected water in it and drank it. When rainwater was no longer available, she chewed on a moist piece of wood she was able to reach with her fingers.
“I tried screaming when I heard people but apparently no one could hear me,” she remembers. She thought of her children and was determined to stick it out until she was found.
“It was imperative that I got out of this situation so I could do all of the things I had planned to do with my children,” Bastide says. “I didn't want them to think I had done something stupid, like kill myself. No, it was an accident. It was they who gave me the strength to carry on.”
Bastide is now in the hospital, where she’s to undergo more surgery. She has a long road to recovery, but she’s happy with how things played out, considering the worst case scenario possible.
It would be 6 long and very hot days until that happened. From her hospital bed, Bastide recalls hearing her phone ring like crazy on the first day: family and friends were worried about her and kept calling her to see if she was ok. She couldn’t reach the phone, so their calls went unanswered. The next day, the battery died, and all was silent.
At about the same time, Bastide realized she would have to do something so she wouldn’t die of heat exposure. As temperatures soared well past 105 degrees, she was able to open the door of the car with her foot and extend an arm holding a chewing gum box. When the heatwave broke and the rains came, she collected water in it and drank it. When rainwater was no longer available, she chewed on a moist piece of wood she was able to reach with her fingers.
“I tried screaming when I heard people but apparently no one could hear me,” she remembers. She thought of her children and was determined to stick it out until she was found.
“It was imperative that I got out of this situation so I could do all of the things I had planned to do with my children,” Bastide says. “I didn't want them to think I had done something stupid, like kill myself. No, it was an accident. It was they who gave me the strength to carry on.”
Bastide is now in the hospital, where she’s to undergo more surgery. She has a long road to recovery, but she’s happy with how things played out, considering the worst case scenario possible.
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