Stranded Driver Ate Leaves to Live

A California man lived for days by eating leaves and drinking creek water after his car plummeted 200 feet off a ravine. After David Lavau’s family reported him missing, they set off to search for the 67-year-old by themselves in the Angeles National Forest, using his last debit card purchase as a clue, reports AP. “We stopped at every ravine, and looked over every hill,” his daughter says. “We kept screaming and the next thing we heard Dad saying, `Help, help,' and there he was.”

Lavau had set up a camp for himself. His first request, after surviving some six days: "Can I have some chocolate milk?" Helicopters brought paramedics to the scene and Lavau was hospitalized with numerous fractured bones and a dislocated shoulder—but nothing life-threatening. A collision with another car apparently led to his plunge: A second vehicle was found at the bottom of the ravine, but its driver did not survive. Officials are investigating. (More stranded stories.)