Man survives crash, 36 hours in mountains

RENO, Nev. – A Nevada man was counting his blessings after surviving a 36-hour ordeal trapped in his crashed Jeep in the frigid Sierra Nevada.

Edward Duncan, 65, was released Saturday from a Reno hospital, where he had been treated for three broken ribs and a broken wrist after being found amid the wreckage Thursday.

The Minden insurance company owner lost control of his Jeep Cherokee on U.S. 50 sometime Tuesday evening and rolled about 250 feet down a steep embankment.

Duncan wasn’t located until a day after he was reported missing. He was freed from the vehicle by authorities and flown to the hospital for treatment.

Duncan’s wife of 44 years, Sherrie, said Saturday that her husband felt lucky to be alive.

“He said it was really, really cold out there … and he became especially thirsty,” she said. “He had a cell phone but he couldn’t reach it. So he kept praying that somebody would see his vehicle.”

Duncan was reported missing after he failed to return home from a Lion’s Club meeting at Lake Tahoe.

Fellow club member Ron Santi said he knew Duncan long enough to figure something bad happened. So on Thursday, he began retracing the route he thought Duncan had taken.

It was on Santi’s third pass down from Tahoe that he spotted the wreckage amid thick brush and trees.

He found Duncan lying on the inside roof of the overturned, totaled Jeep. Authorities then were notified.

“With the condition of his vehicle, I was almost afraid to look inside,” Santi said. “But when I called out his name and he answered, I was overjoyed.”