Dehydrated and cold: Mounties find stranded 76-year-old man in ditch
A 76-year-old man from Ste. Anne, Man., is recovering in hospital after he got lost and spent the night in a wet ditch when he left his stranded truck to find help.
Raymond Cooper got lost on the evening of Thursday, April 27 after his truck got stuck in mud on a road near Ste. Anne and he left his wife behind while he went to get help. Ste. Anne is a community located about 45 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.
"He didn't come back," said Tina Cooper, Raymond's wife, who waited an entire night for him to come back.
"The sun came up again and I never heard or saw him and I thought, this is ridiculous."
The two had taken an impromptu detour for what was supposed to be a fun adventure down Raymond Road — a street that shares his name.
Tina Cooper got out of the truck to search for her husband on foot after sunrise but couldn't find him.
She flagged down a passing vehicle and the RCMP were contacted to search for her husband.
The Mounties said they found her husband about half a kilometre away from where the couple had parked, but the road was so muddy, an ambulance and tow truck got stuck.
When police arrived, her husband was "almost immobile," she said.
He was lying on his back, dehydrated, had a bad head injury from falling and his eyes were puffy.
"It was a real bad mess," she said. "He looks like he's been in a fight."
Cooper said her husband is in high spirits but hasn't been let out of bed yet.
"He's a devout Christian and he has a very strong faith and you know, just trusting the Lord that things are going to go well," she said. "He's cheerful and optimistic, so that carries you through a lot of trouble."
