The Higgins family left their home in League City, Texas for some pre-Christmas skiing in December of 2011. Little did they know, the snow they would encounter on this trip would create harrowing instead of happy memories for the family of three.
On their way to ski at Angel Fire Resort, Yvonne and David Higgins along with their 5-year old daughter Hannah drove their GMC Yukon down Route 56 outside of Springer, NM when conditions turned bad.
They were following a snowplow and all of a sudden, everything went white.
They attempted to keep driving but before he could regain his bearings David Higgins lost control of the vehicle. The backend of the car started to slide and they ended up down an embankment on the side of the highway.
The family was stuck.
While stuck, the family kept the car running for a couple hours until Mr. Higgins tried to leave the car to clear the exhaust pipe of snow. However, his car door was blocked by drifting snow and he was unable to free himself from the vehicle. He shut off the car.
They were trapped.
As they realized their predicament, the family began to struggle to catch full breaths. According to Mr. Higgins, “we weren’t sure of it, but we think we were running out of air,” to which he added, “that was spooky.”
Yet as time went on, the family could hear cars passing. They honked their horn repeatedly but to nobody pulled over. Luckily, the family was equipped with enough ski gear and food to tide them over until help arrived. They just didn’t know how long it would take.
They even played games on their cell phones as well as watched DVD’s on their 5-year old daughter’s portable DVD player. Yet, with all the comforts, Mr. Higgins said he began to wonder if they’d make it out alive after being buried for a full 24 hours. “We didn’t realize how deep the snow was,” he said.
However, David was ultimately able to get a cellphone signal and call his brother who relayed the emergency situation to state police. Eventually, national guardsmen along with local authorities went on the hunt for the Higgins family. They probed along the embankment of snow for quite some time before BOOM! One of the rescue personnel came in contact with the hood of the vehicle.
The digging began.
Once they reached the car, personeel were forced to break the window to free the family. “They pulled us up and out of it,” said Higgins. “The rescuer took pictures and it looked like a rabbit hole. We were three to four feet above the vehicle.”
The family was trapped for a total of two days!
The parents were hospitalized with cases of pnuemonia but the daughter was healthy upon discovery.
Always remeber to carry winter clothes, a shovel, chains, food, water, and a cellphone when traveling in winter conditions.
Read the entire article here: Terrified couple and their five- year-old daughter stranded for TWO DAYS in car buried deep in ice and snow
