Man Trapped in Car 3 Feet Under Snow for 2 Months Without Water and Food, Doctors Baffled to See Him Alive
A Swedish man stunned experts all over the world when he managed to survive, locked inside his car for two straight months. Peter Skyllberg allegedly had no water or food and was battling temperatures close to −22 °F throughout those months, Bright Side reported.
Despite these extreme conditions, the man managed to come out just fine. Experts believe that this miracle could have happened because his body activated special modes to help him deal with his circumstances.
The bizarre incident happened near the northeastern town of Umeå in 2011, The Guardian reported. He reportedly got trapped inside the car on 19 December and thereafter managed to survive inside the vehicle by eating snow and staying inside his warm clothes and sleeping bag. The ordeal went on for two months, till he was spotted by two passersby and rescued from the situation.
Skyllberg appeared to be very weak when he was discovered by the two passersby. Initially, both the snowmobilers thought they had stumbled upon a crashed car, and after digging through the surrounding snow spotted Skyllberg lying on the back seat in his sleeping bag. "They were amazed at what they found: a man in his mid-40s huddled inside in a sleeping bag, starving and barely able to move or speak," Ebbe Nyberg, a local police officer claimed.
Dr. Ulf Segerberg, the chief medical officer at Noorland's University Hospital, believes the victim's car turned into an igloo-like structure which contributed to his safety. "This man obviously had good clothes; he's had a sleeping bag and he's been in a car that's been snowed over," Segerberg explained. "Igloos usually have a temperature of a couple of degrees below 0 °C and if you have good clothes you would survive in those temperatures and be able to preserve your body temperature. Obviously, he has managed to preserve his body temperature or he wouldn't have made it because we humans can't really stand being cooled down like reptiles, for instance, which can change the body temperature."
Dr. Stefan Branth cited bodily adaptations as a possible reason behind Skyllberg's survival, The Guardian reported. He claimed that in such conditions humans can enter into a hibernation mode. "A bit like a bear that hibernates. Humans can do that. He probably had a body temperature of around 31 °C which the body adjusted to. Due to the low temperature, not much energy was used up," Branth added.
(Image Source: Getty Images/Photo by Richard Newstead)
Despite so many arguments, Skyllberg's survival remains a mystery for experts, The Guardian reported. Skyllberg should not have made it out of the car, according to researchers. "There have been cases of people caught out in the mountains, and if they can dig themselves down in the snow they are able to survive and be found. But there must be something special in this case," Segerberg said.
The story became popular all over the world, with many expressing doubts over the so-called feat, The Telegraph reported. One of the two rescuers came forward and claimed that the car was not locked, which further raised people's doubts.