Port au Port senior survives 2 nights trapped in his car

An 87-year-old man from Port au Port on Newfoundland's west coast feels lucky to be alive after beingtrapped in his car for two nights.

"I never ever thought this would happen to me, and I wouldn't want to wish this on anybody," Stan LaFittetold CBC News as he recovered from his harrowing experience.

LaFittesaid it was a beautiful, mildspring morninglast Thursday when he decided to hop in his car and take a drive out to CodroyValley.

It was on his return home when he ran into trouble.

LaFitteleftDoylesat around 2:30 p.m. and was driving along a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near theCodroyPond area when he lost control of the vehicle.

"All of a sudden I was across both highways, the one going west and the one going east, and down over an embankment," saidLaFitte.

He said his red,four-door Buick went down over the hill before finally coming to a stop at the bottom of anarrow gorge. He quickly realized he was stuck when he looked out the window and sawdeep snowtightly packed against the doors.

No phone service, no food

His first instinct was to call the police, and his wife to let her know what happened.

Unfortunately for him, his location along this rural stretch of highway meant he was out range of any cellphone service, and he began to settle in.

"I looked around and I did have a drink of water.I didn't have not a bite to eat. Sometimes I mayeven throw a bit of candy into one of the corners or something, but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing," he said.

"So I said, well, I'll stay here, that's all I can do. They'll find out after a while that I'm lost and they'll come get me."

But no one came.

LaFitte said as it began to get dark, he began to get cold. It was eight degrees the morning he left the house and he was dressed in clothes for that weather.

He was able to start the car but because it had been so severely damaged in the accident, the heat didn't work.

Day 2

The next morning,LaFittesaid, he woke up shivering but optimistic that someone would come to his rescue. But as the hours went on, and night fell for the second time, he began to wonder how much longer he would be trapped there.

Meanwhile, Bay St. George RCMPreceived a missing persons report the night of April 5 and the next day issued a releaseasking for the public's help in locating hiim.

"You know they're looking for you and they always seem to find the person, but I knew I couldn't last many more days without eating or drinking," said LaFitte.

On the morning of April 7, LaFitte said, he woke up for the second morning in a rowstill trapped in the front seat of his car, when all of a sudden he was startled by a knock onhis window.

TheRCMP saidthey were able to locateLaFitte'svehicle buried in the snow with the help of Universal Helicopters and Barachois Brook Search and Rescue, and reached him shortly after 10 a.m. on Saturday.

LaFitte said it took one man about 20 minutes to dig a hole large enough to be able to open the door and get him out.

Rescuers helped get him back up to the highway, where he was placed in an ambulance and taken toSir Thomas Roddick Hospital in Stephenville.

Despite his car likelywritten off, LaFittesaid he feels lucky to be able to walk away from the incident with little more than a sore back.