Alive After 3 Days In Ice

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30682, 23 February 1965, Page 13

Alive After 3 Days In Ice

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) STEWART (British Columbia), Feb. 22. A carpenter buried for 79 hours under tons of rock and snow by an avalanche was dug out today suffering only frostbite and lacerations.

Rescue workers said that when the man, Edward Myllyla, aged about 30, was uncovered from the rubble that buried 27 persons at a copper mine last Thursday, he blinked in the glare and mumbled:— “Watch my feet. . . .”

He then lapsed into Incoherent mumbling about a mate who also was buried. He was taken to hospital in Ketchikan, Alaska, where

doctors said that considering his ordeal, he was in good condition. Searchers have recovered the bodies of 12 men buried in the rubble, but have all but given up hope of finding alive any of the other 15 missing.

Dr. James Wilson, head of a medical team treating Myllyla at Ketchikan, described Myllyla’s condition as “very serious."

He said more than half of the man’s arms and legs were frozen solid and parts probably would have to be removed later.

Dr. Wilson said Myllyla told him he slept most of the time while buried. Myllyla said he thought he was in a coma, but he was not sure. “I thought the most wonderful things,” Myllyla said. He did not elaborate. Myllyla arrived at the hospital with his arms swathed in bandages. He held them up as he was wheeled into emergency on a stretcher.

Dr. Wilson tapped the man’s feet with his fingers and asked Myllyla: “Where do you hurt?” “I don’t know, I don’t know. I just don’t know where,” Myllyla replied. Dr. Wilson said Myllyla would be kept in isolation at room temperature to thaw out. Until then, no surgery would be attempted. He said Myllyla was fed milk and two slices of toast. He also received intravenous injections of alcohol, dextrose and vitamins through his wrists.