French woman, 78, survives 6 days after falling down Alpine ravine

LONDON - A 78-year-old French woman survived for nearly a week after falling down a ravine on a walk in an Alpine forest before being found.

Michele Riotton, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, said she remembers having “slipped into a ravine and then falling asleep” while on a walk through a forest after leaving her home in the village of Armoy.

Dressed in a light jacket, she spent six nights out in the open and had nothing to eat the whole time except two biscuits and just rainwater that ran down her face to drink.

She kept herself warm by covering herself with leaves.

“I wasn’t afraid. I thought mostly about the worry I was causing my children and grandchildren,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

A two-day search, including a helicopter, had been mounted for Riotton, without success.

However, second search found her lying at the bottom of a steep ravine in a pile of leaves just 700 metres from her home, suffering from bruises on her hands and dehydration.

“We didn’t want to abandon the family, even if it’s true deep inside we held little hope of finding her alive. It is a miracle,” said resident Patrice Frossard, who complained that the search had been called off too soon.

Riotton speaking from her hospital said she had now had enough of forests and wanted to “go to a retirement home”. (ANI)