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May 12, 2011

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Stranded woman regains health

A CANADIAN woman rescued after spending seven weeks alone in the rugged, high desert mountains of northeastern Nevada was released from an Idaho hospital on Tuesday.

Officials at St Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls said Rita Chretien was discharged and was being transported to another hospital near her home in British Columbia.

The 56-year-old was rescued last Friday by a group of hunters after surviving by rationing trail mix and hard candy.

Just on Monday, hospital officials said she began eating solid foods again, consuming salmon and green beans for dinner and a breakfast burrito and homemade salsa on Tuesday. Doctors had upgraded her condition to good.

She reportedly lost 9 to 13.5 kilograms while she was stranded and doctors say she faced the prospect of death soon had she not been found.

Meanwhile, rescue crews were hoping the weather improved and the risk of flash flooding lessened enough to resume the search for her husband yesterday.

Efforts to find 59-year-old Albert Chretien were suspended on Tuesday due to bad weather.

The couple from Penticton, British Columbia, is believed to have turned off a highway and onto a northeastern Nevada mountain road looking for a shortcut to Jackpot, Nevada, on their way to a Las Vegas trade show.

When their van became stuck in the mud, Albert Chretien set out on his own with a GPS, hoping to walk more than 30 kilometers to the town of Mountain City. He never returned.

Yesterday Sergeant Kevin McKinney, spokesman for the Elko County Sheriff Department, said if the weather cleared, deputies would use information gathered from their interview with Rita Chretien and the hunters who rescued her to pinpoint their search.

"We're going to try and get a little deeper into the area," McKinney said.

"There are plenty of roads and plenty of area to cover. But we're trying to eliminate the most likely places now and go down those that seem a little less likely," he said, hoping to resume the search.



 

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