LYNN LAKE, Man. — Six people huddled for warmth and snacked on M&Ms for three nights this week while massive snowdrifts encased their vehicles on a northern Manitoba road.
Ernest Castel was in his SUV with his mother and brother when the road conditions deteriorated northwest of Thompson, Man.
He says they came across a truck stuck in the snow that happened to be carrying three friends from Marcel Colomb First Nation, where they were heading.
The group hunkered down in Castel’s car for two nights hoping crews would arrive, but on the third day he and his brother decided to set out to find help.
They trudged through waist-deep snow for hours toward a telecom tower they saw in the distance and broke into a building there in search of a phone and supplies.
A front-end loader, grader and RCMP vehicles eventually reached the car on Thursday morning and took the group to a health centre to be checked out.
“I’m still very tired but I’m warm,” Castel said Friday. “I’m alive.”
The Canadian Press
