75-year-old man missing for four days found alive trapped in swamp IA game warden and his trusty K9 were able to sniff him out.
Michael Altmire, of New Sharon, Maine, was on his way to a scheduled meeting in Weld on Monday when he was last seen driving his car on Colby Miller Road. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife a release issued Saturday reads. Altmeyer never showed up at the meeting.
After four days of no sign of the 75-year-old, staff at a nearby state park found Altmire’s car Thursday night at the Mount Blue State Park Scenic Overlook, just outside of Weld, Maine.
Early the next morning, wardens from Maine’s Department of Inland Fish and Wildlife began searching the surrounding area for the missing man.
After searching throughout the morning and early afternoon, Game Warden Kyle Hamilton and Game Warden Ash, who also owns a dog, located the missing 75-year-old man at 3:45 p.m. He was approximately 1.2 kilometres from where his vehicle was found.
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Authorities believe Altmire fell off a rocky embankment and “possibly became distracted” by the fall. He became stuck in a crevice from which he could not get up.
Search volunteers and a paramedic arrived at Altmire’s location and provided first aid. About two hours after the missing man was found, a helicopter was able to land in the swamp and Altmire was taken to a waiting ambulance. The 75-year-old man was kept at a local hospital overnight.
Maine officials wrote that emergency workers were happy to see that Altmire was “in surprisingly good condition despite lying in a swampy area for the past 4 days.”
A photo shared by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife shows about seven rescue workers carrying Altmire’s stretcher through a dense swampy area to a waiting helicopter.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Maine Association for Search and Rescue, Maine Search and Rescue Dogs, Bureau of Parks and Lands staff, Maine Forest Service, Northstar EMS, and the Weld Fire Department all assisted with the search and rescue of Altmire, along with the Maine Warden.
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