Survivor: Raul Fernando Gomez Circunegui lost three stone after he went missing in the Andes four months ago
A Uruguayan father who went missing in the Andes four months ago has been found alive after spending a brutal winter eating rats and raisins to survive.
Raul Fernando Gomez Circunegui, 58, was rescued on Sunday after a group of Argentinians who were recording snow levels stumbled across him.
He lost more than three stone during the ordeal and was extremely malnourished, but doctors said he would be 'back to normal' in the next few days.
Raul Fernando Gomez Circunegui is carried to a helicopter by rescuers, from the shelter where he was found after disappearing four months ago in the remote Andes Mountains of San Juan Province
Recovery: After being found in a remote mountain cabin, Uruguayan Raul Gomez is comforted by relatives at a hospital in San Juan, Argentina
He set out to cross the mountains from Chile to Argentina in May but had to take the journey on by foot because his motorcycle broke down.
He then lost his way during a snowstorm.
A search party had been launched to try and find Gomez, but it was abandoned in July because of harsh conditions.[related]
Officials from the northwestern province of San Juan then found Gomez in a shelter 9,318 feet above sea level.
A desperate and feeble Gomez managed to alert the crew by hobbling over and opening the shelter's door.
San Juan Governor Jose Luis Gioja told the local Diario de Cuyo newspaper: 'The truth is that this is a miracle. We still can't believe it.
Safe: Gomez lies on a stretcher and is examined by a doctor after his rescue from the Andes
Area: Gomez was found in the remote north-western corner of the San Juan Andes, Argentina by officials who were recording snow levels
Treacherous conditions: Gomez was found in the mountains near Argentina. He would have faced brutal winter conditions (file picture)
'We let him talk to his wife, his mother and his daughter.
'I asked him, "Are you a believer?" He told me, "no, but now I am".
Sugar, raisins, rats and the shelter's leftover supplies kept Gomez alive through the Southern Hemisphere's winter.
He lost 44 pounds during the ordeal and is dehydrated, according to media reports.
A doctor who examined Gomez was surprised by the man's resilience, according to Uruguayan newspaper El Pais.
The doctor treating him said: 'He's a patient with high blood pressure, a history of smoking and signs of undernourishment.
'But he's going to be fine and in a few days we're going to discharge him.'
The story brings back memories of 1972, when a plane carrying an Uruguayan rugby team to Chile crashed into a remote section of the Andes.
The crash left 29 people dead but 16 survivors manage to sustain themselves by eating dead bodies.
Survival: Members of the Uruguayan rugby team, who survived when a plane crashed into a remote section of the Argentinean Andes in 1972
Culled from DAILY MAIL
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