Missing Man Andes: Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui, 58, Survives 4 Months In Andes On Rats And Raisins

A 58-year-old Uruguayan man has reportedly been found after disappearing four months ago while attempting to cross from Chile to Argentina. The man, Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui, got lost in the remote Andes Mountains and survived four brutal winter months on the mountains. According to local media reports, Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui tried to cross the mountains by foot after his motorcycle broke down. The man was discovered by Argentine officials from the north-western province of San Juan at a shelter located 9,318 feet (2,840 meters) above sea level. The officials made their way to that spot because they were assigned with the task of recording snow levels. Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui was able to survive the harsh winter off the supplies kept in the shelter and off three other staples: sugar, raisins and rats.

"The truth is that this is a miracle. We still can't believe it," San Juan governor Jose Luis Gioja told the local Diario de Cuyo newspaper. "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'." Doctors have examined Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui and have noted that the man lost 44 pounds (22 kgs) during his stay in the mountains and was dehydrated. Uruguayan newspaper El Pais says the doctor who examined Raul Fernando Gomez Cincunegui was surprised by his resilience. "He's a patient with high blood pressure, a history of smoking and signs of undernourishment," said the doctor to the paper, adding that "he's going to be fine and in a few days we're going to discharge him."

This isn't the first time an individual was stranded in the Andes, as a plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby team to Chile crashed in the Andes. The plane has 45 passengers and a mere 16 were rescued two months after the crash. Many of the passengers died in the crash, many died to the cold and injuries and others died in an avalanche. After the survivors were rescued, news reports revealed that many of the survivors kept themselves alive by resorting to cannibalism -- they had consumed the bodies of those who died.